There's Nothing Like Family
by Timothy.C
Summary: Alvin has been keeping a secret for the most part of his life. When it finally comes to light, everyone's world is turned upside down and warped into something entirely new. Is it for the better or the worse? Well, there's only one way to find out.
1. Chapter 1

_**I know what you're thinking, "Isn't this story done by Hillsy21?" Why yes you're right, well mostly. The first chapters are done by Hillsy21 but I'm taking over from chapter 13 on so if you've read the first 12 chapters then skip ahead to chapter 13. but if you're new to this story then start here and get ready for a fun ride~Timothy.C.**_

**Authors Note:** **Ah, I see you've chosen to read this Fanficton…Well, welcome to the start of the story….I hope. This story is quite unlike the others. In short, everything you thought you knew about the Chipmunks is about to go down the drain. Your opinion of them is likely to change…..So expect the unexpected and remember….you've been warned! Enjoy the dream sequence!**

**The Truth is in the Eye of the Beholder**

**Father and Son**

"_**Have you ever lain back on the grass, watch the clouds float and ponder about Life? I do that nearly every day. It never ceases to amaze me. How can so many types of animals and plants live together on different continents without tearing each other to pieces? How can everyone be so different from each other, but still be the same? How come our lives have to come to an end after only a certain amount of years? How come we can't all live together as equals?**_

_**In our individual lives, we make at least 100,000 mistakes before we die. Some of them bigger than the others, most are insignificant. Have you ever noticed how we make more mistakes than we make amends and do something worthwhile? If we only changed that balance, the world would be a better place to live in. All the countries would be equally wealthy, no need for war. There wouldn't be Global Warming, we would be more environmentally careful.**_

_**Once in a while, something can happen to change your life permanently. It starts off small. But that causes a chain reaction to create bigger changes that can become even bigger changes and so on. Sometimes the changes can be terrific, and others absolutely horrifying. At the end of the day, everything happens for a good reason. Even if the reasons aren't too clear, you can always count on Life to hand you a few lemons. When that happens, it always feels good to shove the lemons down Life's throat and tell it to bugger off."**_

_**-**_**Hillsy21 (Miss Insanity-2010)**

**So this is how the story starts. With an event that changed Life for a father and son.**

It was six years ago that disaster struck. On a beautiful spring day, in a forest on the border of North America and Canada, life was enjoying itself everywhere. The river was flowing gently; the trees of all kinds were swaying gently in the breeze. Deer herds were travelling from place to place looking for food and the rabbits had come out of their burrows to play in the sun. Birds were taking over the sky, so everyone had to run for cover as to not get crapped on.

But nobody was having more fun than a young male chipmunk by the name of Alvin. He was at least 10 inches tall; his fur was a dark golden brown, had bottle green eyes and was wearing a smile that could win the heart of any Chipette. But at the moment, he only had eyes for his small son. He didn't have a name; Alvin didn't have a clue what to call him. He had decided to wait until the boy could talk so he could just ask him instead. He thought he was being logical.

The boy looked exactly like a miniature version of his father, but with the exception of his brown eyes. They were his mothers. She had unfortunately passed away along with two daughters. Alvin had no one else left but his son. Now he was going to do everything be the best dad he could. At the moment, they were playing a game of hide and seek. Alvin was the seeker...as always.

"Three...two...one! Ready or not here I come!" called Alvin, staring around the forest floor for a sign of his son. He scanned the scene around him, a few rabbits hopping by. He playfully crawled around, making as much noise on the leaves as he could to make his son think he was a lousy seeker, "Come out! Come out! Where ever you are!"

Alvin could've easily smelled his son out, but that wouldn't be any fun. Instead, he started to sing softly a parody of Teddy Bear Picnic that always cracked the boy up laughing.

**Once there was a magical elf,**

**Who lived in a rainbow tree.**

**He lived downstairs to a magical elf,**

**Who was constantly having to pee.**

**He went and knocked,**

**On the rude elf's door.**

**Who opened it with,**

**Such adore.**

**And next minute,**

**What do you know?**

**They were married.**

Alvin knew the song didn't make any sense, but he didn't care. It rhymed, so that was good enough for him. He listened intently for any sign or sound of giggling, but no luck. Moving on a bit more, he sang it again, louder and clearer. Still, there was no noise except for the chirping birds flying over head. The breeze rustled in the tree branches over above. Alvin wasn't worried; the solution was to just sing louder. So without further ado, he sang the song very loudly indeed.

Once more he listened around him, it was intensely quiet. Except, for the noise of a certain little chipmunk kacking himself laughing. From behind a shrub ten feet away, out bounded Alvin's little Mini Me, laughing and bounding into his awaiting fathers arms.

"Ha! I got ya son! I got ya!" Alvin laughed, throwing the cackling boy into the air and making him laugh harder. He caught his son and put him back on the ground. The little one gave a shove into his dad's stomach. Pretending that it hurt, Alvin fell to the ground letting out a fake cry of pain as his son advanced on top of him. "Okay! Okay! You got me! You got me! I give in! I surrender! You win!"

Alvin looked deep into his son's brown eyes, but quickly looked away again as he felt sadness start to spread and ice his heart. Those eyes reminded him of his beautiful wife. He was still devastated about her death; it had only happened two months earlier and he wasn't sure how it happened. It was a complete mystery to him. All he knew was that now, he was a single father with a handful of a son to look after.

Alvin sighed as memories came floating back. He and his wife Virginia (Vinny) had meant to be together since the dawn of time. That was how they saw it to be anyway. They were perfect for each other. They had shared a passion for music: Vinny was a lover of classical country while Alvin preferred old fashioned Rock n Roll. They mixed the two styles together to create one beautiful sound that could be heard throughout the forest. Day in and day out.

When Vinny gave birth to two daughters and one son, they were happier than ever before. But soon, Virginia began to feel ill from an unknown illness. Their two daughters caught it as well and together, the three females soon lost their appetite. Weakness followed along with sleepless nights filled out with cries of pain. One night, just when things were looking better, all three fell asleep and decided to never wake up. A family of five was down to a devastated two.

"You know what?" Alvin asked the small boy, who was very fidgety, "Your mother always said that she wanted to name one of our kids after one of us. How do you like the name Alvin Jr?" The boy sneezed. Alvin grinned at his son's innocent unknowing attitude, "I'll take that as a yes. I'll make it AJ for short. Come on AJ, let's get lunch."

So Alvin and AJ made their way home. Alvin carried AJ on his shoulders, while they laughed about nothing in particular, just glad to have each other. They climbed up their tree, AJ being helped by Alvin up each branch, into a small, simple tree house at the top. As usual, it was nuts and berries for lunch. As usual, AJ got berry juice all over his face and as usual, Alvin had to clean it off. So, everything was going...well...as usual.

But after lunch, when they set out again to gather nuts and berries for dinner, things went terribly wrong.

Alvin set up a game with AJ to see who could carry the most nuts at one time so there wouldn't be any complaining. It was funny to see AJ struggle with his load, constantly dropping it and having to pick it up again. Alvin chuckled as his son chucked his usual tantrum. He cried and screamed, smashing his fists on the ground, totally forgetting about the game.

"Alright AJ, knock it off. Stay put while I climb the tree." Alvin said sternly, leaping onto the first branch. AJ stopped immediately and got off the ground, smiling in an angelic way as he dried his own tears. His eyes had that cheeky funny glint of mischief in them, as if hatching a plan. Alvin rolled his eyes and kept climbing til he reached the top.

_He's going to be an optimistic idiot when he's older. I already feel sorry for the Chipette he ends up with. She's not going to know what she got herself into! _Still chuckling about his son, he picked a few of the better nuts and stuffed them into his cheeks to take back down. He reached the bottom, he was going to give one to AJ to eat...but he had disappeared!

In panic, Alvin spat out the nuts and started sniffing the air for AJ's scent. He caught it and ran north, "AJ! AJ! Where are you? Answer me! Now would be a good time for your first words!" He was now in hot pursuit of AJ's scent, bounding across the forest floor, barely making a mark under his quick and light pace. He halted, the scent was gone again. It didn't take long to find it and Alvin was on the trail again.

"AJ! AJ!" Alvin cried as he ran closer and closer to the most dangerous point of the forest. They lived near the river which, if followed for long enough, turned into a water fall on a huge ridge. Anybody who slipped off the edge was facing certain death as it went down nearly 100 metres. If AJ was anywhere near it, he would be in huge danger of falling; Alvin had no time to lose.

_AJ! Where are you? Please be okay!_ Alvin desperately thought as he scrambled up several trees to look around, still no sign of his son. He kept on running, dodging everything in his path. Once he missed, tripping over a thick gnarly root of a tree, smashing into the ground with such force that he felt his left arm snap in half. That's when he heard it.

"Daddy! Daddy! Help me!"

"Hold on AJ! I'm coming!" Alvin cried back. Ignoring the enormous pulsating pain in his arm, Alvin scrambled and ran onward to the cliff face. There was AJ, holding on for dear life, his legs trying to get a grip on the surface of that treacherous descent. His fingers were already slipping. Alvin ran harder and leaped forward just as AJ started to lose grip. Alvin pulled and heaved his son upwards to safety, but was failing; his arm wasn't helping the problem.

"AJ hold on tight!" cried Alvin, but that was when disaster struck. An eagle spotted them as prey and swooped from the sky down to the two chipmunks. It went for Alvin first, striking him in the face with its deadly talons. Alvin cried out in pain, but refused to let go of AJ. AJ screamed in panic and agony as the eagle's talons struck his left ear leaving a bleeding nick...With another strike to his already broken arm, Alvin lost his grip on his son...

"AJ! NO! AJ!"Alvin screamed furiously as he battled the eagle with all his might.

"Daddy! Daddy! Help!"

Six years later, Alvin Junior woke with a yell. He was sweaty, tears were pouring down his face. He sat up straight in bed wiping the tears away. It took him a few minutes to realise that he wasn't actually in the forest, he was in Los Angeles. He got up and scrambled out the bedroom door, across the house to his adoptive fathers room. He leaped onto the bed and tugged on the human's nightshirt urgently.

"Dave? Are you awake?" AJ asked nervously, he hated waking Dave in the middle of the night.

"Well I am now..." groaned Dave, rubbing his eyes, turning over to turn on the lampshade next to his bed. When he caught sight of what the time was on his alarm, he yelled, "Geez Louise! Alvin! It's 3:30 in the blessed A.M! What are you doing up at this time of day?" His anger at the chipmunk didn't last long when he saw the saddened and solemn look on his face. "It was the nightmare again wasn't it?"

Alvin nodded depressingly, "Yeah, it keeps coming back...I wish it would go away...I haven't had a good night's sleep in ages." He yawned, the lines under his eyes showing evidence of deprivation from sleep. He looked worn down and a bit thinner than usual, just not himself at all. Dave looked at him concerned.

"I can see that. Maybe you just need to talk about it. You wanna talk?" Dave asked. Alvin thought about it. If he talked to Dave about the dream; what it is actually about and who was in it, he would have to reveal the darkest secret he had. If anyone found out about Alvin's secret, chaos just might prevail. Yet again, if he did reveal it, it would be off his chest at last...

"Um...Maybe tomorrow Dave, for now I just wanna sleep. Can I sleep here til morning?" Alvin asked, changing the subject as fast as he could.

"Fine, hop in..."

_**You can always trust Dave to give you a helping hand, luckily for Alvin, eh?**_ _**What was that dream about exactly? I wonder…**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**This is when the story really comes into play. Not gonna say anything here….Except that Alvin is in a heap of trouble today. I wish him good luck….He's going to need it…..**_

**Blood Brothers**

Has there ever been a time when Life has thrown something in your face when you least expect it? Like, maybe your parents have decided to get a divorce or they told you that you were getting a little brother or sister? Maybe they surprised you by telling you that you're in fact adopted? That's never happened to me. Why? Because, I'm the one who has to drop the bombshell on the family.

Ever since the day I was separated from my dad, I've been keeping a nasty secret from my brothers. It's the kind of secret that you really want to tell someone about it, but know that if you did, your life would never be the same again. My brothers just might abandon me. What everyone will think of me when I reveal the truth, I don't know, but the day would come...and sooner than I thought.

It's October 11th, 2010. In my opinion, it's the worst day of the year. At this time of year, we chipmunks are usually storing food to get ready for hibernation, but it's been four years since we did. Dave thought it was time for us to have our annual check-up, needles and all. We three dreaded this day all year round and it always came at the worst time .This was not going to be fun.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love this guy, but when Chris Hill, the red-headed Australian Vet greeted us at the entrance this morning, I wanted to throttle him then and there. Of course I didn't, after all he did for me after that horrible stage accident last year, and I owe him a lot. But still, it's hard to like the guy that would be soon taking blood out of my arm.

The Chipettes were currently in Rome for a music convention. We could've gone, but the other two weren't interested and I wasn't going to be stuck with three giggly girls looking like a schmo for three weeks. I might be a bit of a womanizer, but I'm not that desperate. So, it was my two regretful brothers and I who dragged our way across the car park to the hospital entrance.

"All ready then?" Chris asked, looking amused at our unenthusiastic faces. We all glared up at him in annoyance. "Alright then, let's get this over and done with." I exchanged irritable looks with Simon and followed him inside. I stomach was feeling a bit uneasy, smelling just how clean the place was. The walls of the building were a tacky khaki colour. It made the day seem even more depressing then it already was.

"Morning Chris," Dave greeted his old friend, as if they were at an amusement park. He shook Chris's hand, "You don't look a day older than the last time I saw you."

"Yeah I know, but you do," Chris teased, taking his hand back and flexing his biceps. A couple of nurses nearby nearly fainted. I smirked as I could just tell that the Chipettes would react the same way to him. Dave rolled his eyes; clearly, he had always been a bit jealous of Chris. I couldn't blame him; so was I! "You're getting along old timer!"

"Yeah, yeah….So how are we going to do this?" asked Dave importantly, obviously wanting to change the subject. I gave another smirk and looked over at Theodore who was doing the same thing. "Who's going to go first?"

_Not me, not me, not me, not me, not me_ I thought. Looking over at Simon and Theodore, I could tell they were thinking the same thing. There was no way I was volunteering to be poked and prodded by people in white coats for half an hour. For humans like you, it isn't so bad, but for us it's terrifying. Imagine getting held and touched in places even you keep away from! Imagine having to have your temperature checked as if you had to have a colonoscopy! It's deadly cold! Chris dragged Dave further down the hall for a moment.

"Okay, there is no way in hell that I'm going first!" protested Simon. I groaned and slapped a paw to my forehead. He just crossed his arms and glared over our heads…It was debating time.

"I knew you would say that!" squeaked Theodore. The thought of a needle alone left him petrified were he stood. I remember our first Vet check. We had to put him in a strangle hold before the needle could get anywhere near him. The end result was Theo scrambling over to the sink and vomiting before keeling over and passing out. It was a long night….. "Why can't you go first? You're the smart one! Don't you know what they are going to do?"

"Yes Theo, but that's only in theory. And you know me! I have a really low threshold for pain…." Simon said, looking a bit shifty. We both learned that the hard way when we were toddlers. I did the stupid thing of asking him what a Chinese Burn was and he insisted on doing a demonstration. Oh man, did that hurt! I ran to Dave balling my eyes out, but not before I did it back to him. We both got grounded for a week…

"THERE'S GOING TO BE PAIN?"

"Theodore, keep your voice down! And there's not going to be pain! You'll feel just a slight pinch that's al—"

"But I hate being pinched! Why does Dave want us to be pinched? Doesn't he like us anymore?"

"Theodore that's not the case—" Simon tried to explain, but the damage had been done. Theodore was now cowering behind me, trying not to cry. I gave Simon an annoyed look. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, that was _real smooth_ Pinhead! Now he's not scared at all!" I said sarcastically. I turned away from Simon and kneeled down so that I was eye to eye with Theodore. "Don't worry Theo. There will be pain, but it won't last for long. Trust me, I've had tons of needles and they've never hurt that much." This was of course a lie, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Really?" he asked, still unsure. I knew that the only way to convince him was to get over my own fears.

"Really, really," I replied in a sing song voice. Theo seemed a little more confident now. Simon actually looked a little impressed for once. And to prove it, I'll go first. There's nothing to worry about!" I announced.

"Did I hear someone volunteer?" asked Chris, walking back into the foyer with Dave. I put my hand up and nodded. Dave looked at me with encouragement, the kind of face that said, _"I knew I could count on you."_

"Alright then, come this way and we'll get started." Said Chris, motioning me to follow. With one last brave look at my brothers, I bounded after him into a room at the back of the hospital. It was the same room that I had my leg plastered up after an accident during a stage rehearsal. It was looking as gloomy as ever. Medical charts were hung all around the walls.

"So what's going to happen today, Chris?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant. I started to tremble, wondering what to expect this year. Chris was pulling a couple of thing out of certain drawers, one of them, a syringe.

"Oh, it's just a blood test today. Nothing to worry about." He answered flatly. "Dave wanted me to do a lot of different stuff, but I didn't think it was necessary." He winked at me and I smiled in relief. A blood test was fair enough, nothing to complain about.

It only took about five minutes to get it over and done with. As I suspected, it only hurt for a second. It felt weird when the blood withdrew from my arm. After fifteen minutes of lying down to prevent dizzy spells, Simon and Theodore were also finished. The day wasn't so bad after all I guess. All that worrying for nothing! I felt so stupid afterward. For being so well behaved, Dave took us out for ice cream.

"So how did the test go for you, Theodore?" I asked, licking my caramel and chocolate sundae.

"Not…Not too bad," He replied in a small voice. Simon looked over at me and mouthed, "_It couldn't have gone worse!"_

oooo00oooo

At 8:30 pm…._Knock, knock, knock! _Dave opened the front door to find Chris looking a bit concerned. They talked at the door for a while. The three of us with our ears straining to catch a bit of the conversation; we were playing Jenga in the living room. Chris said something that made Dave look over at me, his eyes wide and shock spreading all over his face.

I heard him say my name, then Simon and Theodore's. "I wonder what that's about?" I wondered out loud.

"Whatever it is, it can't be too good." answered Simon curiously, tilting his head to one side in confusion. "Dave seems to have a negative re-action to it and so does Chris. Do you think it has something to do with the blood tests?" Dave stumbled back from Chris, quickly glancing at us watching him. His expression had gone from shocked to pure worry.

"What else would it be about?" I replied. I was starting to panic a little bit. Anything that can faze Dave like that has got to be bad….And Chris had said our names… "Maybe it's a disease or something."

"Disease? What if it's cancer?" asked Theodore looking frightened again. Simon hugged him reassuringly and gave me a nasty look. I took no notice, my heart was deflating.

Chris had just said the thing I didn't want to hear. Great! Just brilliant! He knew my secret and he was telling Dave! And he was going to tell Simon and Theodore! This could not be happening! Please, not now! They're not ready for this and neither am I! Couldn't it have waited til we were older? This is bad! This is really, really bad!I felt myself start to panic.

The feeling must have spread onto my face because Simon asked, "Alvin, are you okay?" All I could do is gulp and nod, all words were lost. What could I say?

"Are you sure your okay?" asked Theodore, scanning my face curiously. I started to feel a bit nauseous. "You're looking a bit peaky."

"I'm fine Theo, just feeling a bit dizzy from the blood test." I lied, giving him a comforting smile. The smile was more for my reassurance than his. This was to be my last happy expression for at least a few days.

The humans entered the living room, Chris looking solemn, Dave back to looking shell shocked. Both of them sat side by side on the couch, avoiding eye contact from each other. There was an awkward silence throughout the house. The wind could be heard blowing a gale outside. Theodore bounded onto Dave's lap and looked up at him, "What's going on Dave?

Dave stayed silent as he looked down at his youngest son, his eyes showing complete pity. It was Chris who answered his question.

"Well Theodore," Chris began, "When I was looking through the blood test results, I found something unusual, it's not life threatening. If it had've been, I would have told you before I told Dave. It does have something to do with your genetics though. This might come as a bit of a shock. But-… Alvin's genetics are in a whole different chemistry to yours and Simon's."

"What does that mean?" asked Theodore. I sighed heavily. This was not when I expected this to happen at all. Life can be so unfair sometimes...I guess it was time to face the music. I took a deep breath and braced myself for the reactions, feeling more nauseous than ever...

"It means that-" All eyes turned to me, "It…means that…that I'm not…I'm not your brother.

_**Bet you didn't see that coming did you? By the way, you're more than welcome to review, but please no rude comments.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Poor Alvin….It was a big mistake he had made by not telling them, but he hardly deserved that! Simon was too far out of line in my opinion….But the opinion that really matters is yours? Let me know it by reviewing…**_

**What'll Happen Now? (Part 1)**

**Alvin's POV**

I woke the next morning with a heavy heart, still very tired after a mostly sleepless night. My clutch on Dave hadn't loosened. I felt extremely guilty for him having to console me all night even though he needed comforting himself. It must have been such a shock to his system. Right now, he was risking his relationship with my bro-…with Simon and Theodore. But I needed Dave now, more than ever. He was being so supporting of me even though I had been lying to him for over four years. I was actually very surprised that he didn't kick me out the door last night in rage.

Oh God…Last night…My memory sent me horrible reflections of the night before. I could still see the look on everyone's face when I told them the truth…Dave's jaw dropping…Theodore shocked into silence and running away from me….And Simon….Simon immediately going into rage at me…..He hated me for not telling him the truth…Out of everyone, I had no idea that he would react like that…He pushed me…..He yelled at me…..He screamed…He said I wasn't welcome in the family anymore…He reduced me to tears…Hardly anyone can do that…..

His words came flying back and smacked me squarely in face, _"Alvin, you have done some stupid things before, but this is far beyond any of that. I have forgiven you in the past when you have done something to hurt me or this family, but this time, I won't. You aren't my brother and you aren't a part of this family anymore! Just go away!" _I can't believe he said that…I might not be his brother, but I still loved him like one. He was always the person I could trust when everyone else had turned their back…But now he hated me!

And Theodore…I didn't want to see him hurt by this, but how couldn't it? The life he had cherished and loved…..with a great dad, a great career and the two best brothers that anyone could ask for…had just been taken away from underneath him. There is no doubt that he no longer loved me like a brother. After all we've been through; I had lied through my teeth again and again. But it was always for their sake… not mine. I never wanted to use them for my own purposes. I may be a bit of a jerk, but I'd never use them…I love them… I just wanted them to be happy….

Before I knew it, yet again I was crying hysterically into Dave's pyjama shirt. I just wanted this fiasco to end. I wished I could turn back time to the point where we were babies and I could tell them so they would've always known as well. This would've never happened then. Unfortunately for me, that was impossible, so I just had to face this head on. Dave woke up with a start, but quickly snapped out of it when he realised what was happening.

"Alvin calm down!" he repeated for what must've been the millionth time. He sat up in the bed, making me slide down onto his lap, continuing to sob loudly. Just like last night, he took my despair into stride and started to stroke my back, his fingers running in line with the markings of white stripes. It sent a chill down my spine and I flinched, not improving the situation one bit. I opened my eyes. Through the tears, I could see him looking down at me with great concern and grief.

I really did need to get a grip on myself. There was no hope of any reconciliation or forgiveness if I was just going to fall apart all the time. Eventually with a load of comforting from Dave, I managed to calm down and the sobbing ceased. I rubbed my already sore eyes free of tears and stood up stretching, Dave still watching me intently. I gave a small smile to show that I was alright for the moment.

"Thanks Dave," I said gratefully. "For everything. I couldn't be alone last night. And I'm sorry that I never told you about not being related to the other two. If I couldn't tell them, I couldn't tell you. I was going to tell you the other night…remember? After that nightmare?"

"Yes, I remember." Dave replied, smiling that I was finally past sobbing, "And don't apologise for something you couldn't help. That's rule number 36 in the Seville family rule book. Come on, it's time to get up. I need to cook breakfast and the Chipettes are coming home from Rome this morning." So we both got up and dressed. Dave walked out the bedroom door first in case a rampaging Simon came running out and accused the both of us of being traitors. We both cautiously made our way across the living room into the kitchen, very fearful about how the day was going to play out.

We remained silent, only the sound of toaster waffles popping out of the toaster could be heard. I ate mine with jam, wondering how long it would take for Theodore to wake up from the delicious, tantalising smell that filled the house. Dave sat down with some music sheets, in an attempt to write a new song while he too ate breakfast. It was awkward, sitting there in silence. It was as if it was the calm after a storm and we were waiting for the next one to start. It was more awkward then the first morning that Dave came home from Paris, after being in hospital. I had kept expecting for him to jump up and start tearing me apart.

"Morning Dave! Morning...oh...It's you... " Theodore huffed awkwardly as he bounded into the kitchen, skidding to a halt when he saw me. Obviously, he didn't want to see me so early in the morning, especially after last night. He had finally made up his mind on how he thought about this. I looked around to see him looking at me with distaste, gloominess and even hatred. He had dry tear stains all down his face and looked as though he got no sleep what so ever. The guiltiness I had been feeling, reached a new climax. It felt as though my heart had been shoved into my throat, preventing me from saying a word.

Dave quickly broke the tension that was so thick; you could cut it with a knife, "Good Morning Theodore. What would you like on your waffles?" Theodore was still staring at me as if he was trying to work out who I really was.

Theodore snapped out of it at the sound of Dave's voice, "Um...Just the usual today thanks, I don't feel like splurging." His voice was very uncharacteristic. So Dave gave Theodore the usual: six toaster waffles covered in jam, honey and a mountain worth of whipped cream. I'm surprised that he hasn't died of a heart attack with the amount he likes to eat. As he ate, he kept glaring at me, barely blinking. It was creeping me out.

Without thinking, I asked irritably, "What are you looking at?" I immediately regretted opening my mouth.

"I'm just trying to work that out." Theodore answered rudely. "Pathetic liar..." he added in an undertone. Oh how I felt like throttling him...actually, not him, Simon. He probably told Theodore to call me that. Speaking of Simon, he chose that moment to walk into the kitchen and was already enraged that I actually dared to talk to his little brother.

"Don't you dare talk to him like that? Don't you dare talk to him _period, _you jerk! Understand?" he roared, his voice ringing out just like last time through the house. I flinched, but didn't break down in tears again; he didn't deserve the satisfaction. I bounded over to him and stood up to my fullest height, still a few inches shorter, but still I stood my ground.

"You can't tell me what to do. You said it yourself last night; I'm not a part of this family anymore. Or have you forgotten about last night already? I wouldn't be the least bit surpri—"I sneered, but was immediately cut off when I was forcefully tackled to the ground. Simon had pounced at me and pushed me to the floor, getting ready to take a swing at my face. There was nothing but pure hatred in his eyes.

I retaliated and kicked both my legs in one go. They hit Simon square in the stomach and he fell to the ground, his glasses flying off his face and smashing not far away...

**Theodore's P.O.V**

I climbed out of my bed slowly, not wanting to move. I had barely slept a wink last night. After what had happened, I was amazed I got any sleep. I could still feel the wet fur of my cheeks from the immense downpour of tears. How could this have happened? Six years of my life have been a lie. Six years, and he never once thought to tell us.

Six long years, that he had lied. When I had entered my room that night, I remember the first thing I did was cry. In fact that was almost all I did. Then Simon talked to me. I wish he hadn't, I don't want to hate Alvin. But, Simon said I had to. I remember his words like he had said them to me seconds ago.

"_Theodore, don't be upset. You shouldn't cry. You should be angry, not sad. He lied to us for six years of our life. Crying about it is only giving him satisfaction" _he had growled. He was so angry, but deep down, I sensed that he felt like I did. Betrayed and hurt. I remember I had tried to defend him with words. But that's all they were, words. I don't think I could have backed any of them up if I'd tried. If I had even wanted to try to back them.

"_But... but Simon. He was so upset. He... wasn't trying to get satisfaction. I... I think he's really sad. Maybe... maybe he wasn't trying to hurt us..." _I had said, but in the end, that was only one of the thoughts circling my mind. And it wasn't the one that triumphed in the end.

"_Theodore, he used us. He lied to us our whole lives just to make himself feel better. He doesn't deserve your loyalty. I am your brother not him. I love you, not him"_ my brother had told me. Ha, my brother. I used to have two brothers. Now I only have one. A part of my life had been stripped from me. Gone, like it had never existed.

"_But Simon... he said he does love us... like brothers..." _I don't even know why I said it. My mind was already made up, but a part of me was still so wrapped in my grief that I... I couldn't think clearly...that must have been it...

"_He doesn't love us. If he loved us, he never would have lied to us. He never would have used us. He never would have had to ruin our lives. He is a pathetic liar and he isn't a part of this family. I hope you see it Theodore, because otherwise he will hurt you, and I will not see my brother hurt" _he said those words with such fierceness, that I... I just couldn't oppose them. I must admit, I was a little scared. But now, I don't want to oppose them. All night I cried, and all night I thought. He had lied to us for six years. He had pretended to be our brother for six years.

He had pretended to love us, for six, long, years. 'Pathetic liar'... those words, did suit him. But no matter about all the anger and resentment I was feeling, the hurt and the sadness was always more. I tried to hide it all away, but I only brought out my anger to the world. I don't know what was worse; the fact that he had lied, or the fact that I was so hurt and angry about it. It just wasn't me to feel this way. But this wasn't something in my normal life. It had been about my entire life.

I stumbled out of my room feeling worse than I had ever in my entire life. I noticed Simon starting to stir, but I ignored him. I already felt angry towards 'Alvin', but I felt even sadder. I didn't want to have more of my emotions twisted into his thinking. I felt bad enough as it was. As I trudged into the kitchen, my mind a complete wiz of thoughts, I realised that Dave was awake, and he had made waffles. I didn't even feel hungry (probably, the first time in my life actually), but I knew that I had to eat. It was probably the only clear thought I had in my mind.

"Morning Dave! Morning...oh...It's you... " I said. I had only just observed that Dave was not alone. I don't know why I hadn't already guessed that _he _would be in the room, but it was still a shock to me to see him. And that shock was probably the worst part. The anger I had been holding back broke free. And my sadness stayed hidden. All I could show for myself was the resentment. This made me feel even worse.

"Good morning Theodore, what would you like on your waffles?" Dave asked. The question broke through my thoughts. I wanted to eat even less now, but the anger that was surfacing decided not to let Alvin see any weakness.

"Um...Just the usual today thanks, I don't feel like splurging" I sounded so different. The anger in my voice was... unbearable. I-I can't believe how much I hated him, but I didn't want to. I just... I just don't know what to do.

As I started to eat the platter of food placed in front of me, I couldn't remove the anger from my face, and my eyes were glued to him. I wanted to look away. I wanted to run away, far away to a time where this wasn't part of my life. To when we were all still brothers, who loved each other. But Life doesn't work that way.

"What are you looking at!" he asked me, annoyed. I only just realised how intense my gaze must have been. But _he_ saying that to me... the anger just boiled... it was uncontrollable.

"I'm just trying to work that out... pathetic liar" I muttered. It felt so awful to say that to him, but I just couldn't stop this anger. I wanted to stop; I wanted the sadness to stop. I wanted to all just stop. I wanted my family.

"Don't you dare talk to him like that? Don't you dare talk to him _period, _you jerk! Understand?" I spoke too soon. My 'real' brother entered the room, and he was mad as hell. I guess Alvin speaking to me must have made him angry. Seeing him angry made me... sad. First it was just Alvin who was affecting me. Now it was Simon. This was just like our first few weeks of school, but now... now it wasn't about changes in personality... now it was changing in persons, period.

"You can't tell me what to do. You said it yourself last night; I'm not a part of this family anymore. Or have you forgotten about last night already? I wouldn't be the least bit surpri—"Alvin had leapt from the table to confront my brother. Unfortunately, Simon still wasn't in a talking mood, and his usually calm and witty demeanour was gone, replaced by anger and hatred. I wasn't surprised by his reaction of tackling Alvin to the ground, but it pained me none the less that he did so. I am just so confused. Why is this happening? Both of my brothers are causing me pain. Can't they see it? I just want this to stop. I just want my family back.

I watched as Alvin pulled both his legs back and sent them forward forcefully straight into Simon's unprotected stomach. I listened as my brother let out wheeze and gasp for air, and I heard the shattering of glass as his glasses hit the ground. That was all I could take. It was just too much to handle.

I jumped from the table and fled the room, tears streaming from my eyes. I heard cries from behind me, but I ignored them. I just had to get away. Far away from all of them. My family. Families were supposed to protect you and care for you. To be there when you needed them the most. But my family could provide none of it. They couldn't protect me; my overwhelming emotions were far too strong. They couldn't care for me, they resented each other to much to notice. They couldn't be there for me. They were what were driving me away. I can't explain how sad I am. How hurt. I don't know if I ever will be able to. I just hope, I pray that I can be with my family...As a family.

_**Oh poor Theodore, he's so confused…..It's not going to get any better for Alvin either in the next chapter, believe me.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**If yelling at him wasn't bad enough, Simon isn't finished with his 'ex-brother' just yet…..**_

**What'll Happen Now? (Part 2)**

**Simon's P.O.V**

I let out a gasp of breath as the traitorous chipmunk kicked me in the stomach. I didn't notice as my glasses went flying from my face and shattered on the ground. I barely even noticed the pain in my gut. What I felt, was far more intense. It was beyond anger. It was pure a vengeful rage. My vision was impaired, and I was seeing double, but I didn't care. I had to make him suffer. Suddenly, I noticed Theodore sprint out of the room in tears.

"Theodore wait!" I cried. I turned to follow him, when I heard words that brought me to the brink of exploding with anger.

"Theodore, come back! Please! I need to talk to you, I need to-" Alvin started to call, but I wasn't going to take that.

"Shut up! Don't you ever talk to him! You have no right to say another word to him ever again you lying scum!" I screamed.

"Simon!" Dave yelled, but I ignored him. My father was not going to stop me dealing with this disloyal filth. He didn't deserve to be protected.

"I can say whatever I want to him. I love him like my brother and I will say what I want, when I want, and you can't do a thing about it!" he roared in my face, but that was the final straw. I balled my paws into fists, and before he could react, I swung them towards him. My first fist connected with the side of his head and he staggered back. My second fist didn't land so successfully. It went wild, and he managed to rush me before I could counter. His head slammed against my chest and I was buffeted back. But this wasn't over. Six years of my life. Six years he had lied to me. He was not about to beat me.

I swung both my arms forward and they boxed either side of his head. As he retracted in pain, I took advantage of the situation. I swung my leg up and returned the favour by kicking him straight in his stomach. He wheeled back from me and looked up at me in anger. I could hear Dave shouting and moving towards us, but he wasn't going to stop me. I readied myself to take another slug at him, but then I caught a flint behind his eyes. He started to run around me as fast as he could. I wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish, but I was going to make sure he understood his mistake.

I took a swing straight at his fat head. But my fist went straight through. Suddenly, I felt a hard shove from beside me and I fell to the ground. How did I miss him, and how did he get around me? Then I realised my mistake. Without my glasses, I was seeing double vision, and he had just used it against me. I had hit the wrong Alvin. He had been directly behind my fist, and took the opportunity to shove me.

"I'm going to talk to Theodore and you can't stop me!" he cried and started to dash away from me, but I wasn't going to end this yet. I scrambled to my feet and took chase after him. I heard a yell, and turned to see that Dave was right on our tail, but I wasn't going to let up. He had caused us, caused me too much pain to just be forgiven. I was going to finish this.

I didn't know whether it would make me feel better or not to hurt him, but I couldn't stop myself chasing him. He was going to suffer just like I was. I leapt forward and managed to grab his tail. We both tumbled forward underneath the couch. As we came to a stop, we both scrambled to our feet.

"You aren't going anywhere near him. You have caused enough pain!" I growled. Saying that seemed to have had an effect on him.

"I'm not trying to cause anyone any pain... I just want to explain..." but I cut him off. I had heard enough of his explanations, and I had really had enough of his apologies.

"I don't care Alvin. You don't deserve to explain anything. You have already ruined our lives enough. How do you think explaining will change anything? How do you think sorry will change anything? Those are just words. I don't know and I don't care whether you actually do care, but it doesn't matter. You lied to us for six years Alvin, six years! You could have told us, and then we may have listened to you, but not now." I growled.

"You were going to continuing lying to us to the rest of our lives if you could. The only reason we know is because of the blood test, otherwise we would have never known. So that is why Alvin; you can apologise all you want, but you can never make up for what you did. Not just the fact that you forced your way into our lives, but that you were never going to tell us!" I said, anger drenching every word. I watched him.

Alvin tried to say something, but he couldn't; the fire in him was lost. He lowered his head and his body slumped. I however, was still ready to fight. I rushed at him and took a swing. The fist slammed into his chest and he went sliding across the floor out into the living room, right at Dave's feet.

"Stop this now, both of you!" he cried as I emerged from under the couch. I didn't attack again, but this wasn't over.

"You have caused so much pain Alvin, why don't you just stop? Theodore is off crying his eyes out because of you! Just get way! You aren't part of this family anymore so stop pretending to be! You aren't and never will be our brother!" I screamed. Alvin's determined look fell to depression as he looked at me. His eyes started to well up with tears.

Before Dave could stop him, the red-clad chipmunk sprinted out of the room. He dived through the cat flap on the door, installed just for us, and disappeared outside somewhere. For some reason, mingled deep within my anger and hatred I felt another emotion. It was... guilt. No, it couldn't be guilt, he was the one who had caused all the pain and suffering, not me. So why did I feel that?

As fast as the emotion had been triggered, it was gone, lost amongst a sea of rage and resentment. Still, for some reason, I didn't feel as sure of myself as I once was. Was I too hard?

_**So where did Alvin go? Stay tuned to find out and to see the Chipettes return to the limelight**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Chipettes have returned to the recently broken home of the Seville's. What hare-brained scheme has Alvin dreamed up to save it? What does Australia have to do with it?**_

**The Letter**

**Alvin's POV**

I dove through the cat flap and ran for my life. Tears streaming down my face, yet again were dried almost instantly in the cold wind trying to force me back. I scrambled out of the avenue and took a left, not really noticing where I was headed for. As long as I was out of fist-shot from Simon, anywhere was perfect. My mind was filled up with so many mixed feelings and thoughts; guiltiness was still the dominant emotion though. I can't believe I lost my temper like that...I actually beat up my ex-brother...Oh, who I am I kidding? I beat up my own brother!

He did some damage to me too, but for once I wasn't going to focus on self pity. I caused a fight with Simon, right in front of innocent Theodore! How could I be so goddamn stupid to let him see such a thing? I don't blame him for running away. I don't blame him for hating my guts, I deserve it. He needs us as a family right now, not as something to frighten and upset him! Simon accused me of hurting this family that apparently I'm not a part of. That Hypocrite! He's the one causing even more pain than is necessary!

"_Not just the fact that you forced your way into our lives, but that you were never going to tell us!" _That is in fact not true. I never forced my way into their lives. I never tried to. Their parents took me in as one of their own because they never found my dad. I was going to tell them when we were a bit older, so it wouldn't hit them as hard. They would be properly mature by then and could take it like grownups. But...I guess that Life had a different plan.

Eventually I reached the place where my subconscious decided to take me: The Park three blocks away. Nobody was there; it was only 7:30 AM. Dave usually takes us here all the time to get some fresh air. It was weird, being here alone and not automatically racing the boys or the Chipettes to the good swing in the playground. The playground looked so daunting, without having screaming children climbing all over the equipment. The sky was a dark grey after raining all night.

The only place I knew I could hide here was in a hollow tree trunk that had been cut down years ago. Whenever I needed a quiet place to think to myself, I would climb into the log and stay there for hours on end. It wasn't much of a home, but until this whole thing blew over, I might not have a choice but to live there. Finally I reached the could-be temporary home and climbed in. It was dark and creepy as always, but I actually liked that fact. I crawled directly into the middle of it where I could be completely engulfed in darkness.

Finally settled down, I panted for breath and for the first time felt the extent of the damage Simon had caused. My whole body was aching heavily. I could feel bruises forming over my eye and on my chest where Simon had punched me last. My stomach was dully throbbing and a headache was forming from when he boxed the sides of my head. My back ached from when he tackled me to the ground with a sickening thud. I should be feeling guilty for what I did to him, but that's just not possible right now.

Moaning slightly in pain, I found myself restarting to cry aloud. The difference was that this time, there was no Dave to comfort me as I wept. The tears and sobs kept on coming as I let them fall, giving up on all self control. I was alone now. Nobody to hold me was what I needed. I could finally just let it all out. The pain, the sadness, the guiltiness and the anger were all washed out with my tears of resentment. A pathetic lair...a traitor...a good for nothing piece of scum is all I'll ever be to them from now on.

I lay back on the circular wall of the log, the odd bumps in it making my back hurt even more. I just wanted everything that has happened with the last 19 hours to go away. The blood test, Chris finding out in the results, Chris telling Dave, Chris telling Simon and Theodore, me admitting I already knew, Simon going into a rampage and now, yelling at Theodore and brawling with his brother right in front of him. Now they were never going to forgive me...

It seemed like hours that I laid there crying to myself; it just didn't seem to stop. Gradually by the afternoon, the sleep that I hadn't gotten last night caught up to me. I drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep, tears still falling down my tired and bruised face...

"_Daddy! Daddy! Help me!"_

"_Hold on AJ! I'm coming!" Alvin cried back. Ignoring the enormous pulsating pain in his arm, Alvin scrambled and ran onward to the cliff face. There I was, holding on for dear life, my legs trying to get a grip on the surface of that treacherous descent. My fingers were already slipping. Alvin ran harder and leaped forward just as I started to lose grip. Alvin pulled and heaved me upwards to safety, but was failing; his arm wasn't helping the problem._

"_AJ hold on tight!" cried Alvin, but that was when disaster struck. An eagle spotted us as prey and swooped from the sky down to us. It went for Alvin first, striking him in the face with its deadly talons. Alvin cried out in pain, but refused to let go of me. Suddenly, the eagle transformed into an angry Simon. He came running at us with a dagger, his eyes a fiery-red with flames burning inside. He grabbed me and dropped me on the ground behind his back while advancing on Alvin Sr. I watched in fright as Simon plunged the dagger into Alvin's chest, blood immediately spilling out._

"No! Simon! Leave Dad alone! Please! It wasn't his fault! It was my fault! Please! Leave Dad alone!" I screamed in my sleep.

_I ran in front of my Dad's dead body and shielded him with my own, "Leave him alone! He didn't deserve that!" Simon just cackled like a mad man and picked me up by the scruff of my neck. I started to cry loudly out of pain, "Why are you doing this? I thought you were my brother!"_

"_That's what I thought too, you little scumbag! You are going to cause us too much pain! Might as well get rid of you... right now!" Simon cackled with a face of a murderer. He walked past the body of my dead father at the edge of the cliff and kicked it off. He then dug the dagger into my chest as well, laughing louder than ever, "Let's see you survive this!" And he threw me off the edge as well._

_While I fell, I felt as if I was rising at the same time, into the light. I could hear a voice...a woman's...a Chipettes calling out to me...It was my mother..."Alvin! Alvin! Wake up!" she called...Finally, I was going to be in her arms again...I'm coming Mum!...As she kept calling me, I recognised the voice again and realised it wasn't her it was...The girl of my dreams...The girl I loved deeply, but was too scared to tell her...She's come to save me..._

"Alvin! Alvin! Wake up! I've been worried about you!"

I woke up with a jolt. There was a paw on my shoulder, shaking me back into consciousness. I was still in the darkened log. I had been laying on the uncomfortable wall and bottom for so long that my body had become stiff. Sitting up was a challenge as I tried to move my back. The silhouetted figure next to me was helping me get comfortable. It then wrapped its arms around my waist and said," I knew you would be here!"

"Oh, well done! That must've taken the skill and intelligence of Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out! What was your first clue?" I asked sarcastically. The figure retracted its grip slightly. I realised I had been a bit harsh. As I began to fully awake, my eyes took in the full sight of the figure before me. She was my height, but her fur was far lighter, ochre-brown to be precise

Her outfit was pink in every way, her leather jacket was pink, her pleaded skirt was pink, her undershirt was pink, and the tie that hung loosely around her neck was striped black and...well, you take a guess. Her hair was tied back into a lush and bouncy ponytail, and her sparkling blue eyes were the definition of absolute beauty. She truly was the girl of my dreams, the most amazing person in my life. The girl I would do anything to be with. This girl was Brittany.

I noticed she was still a little upset by my harshness, so I added in quickly, "I'm sorry Britt. I'm just bit stuck in the dog house at the moment..."

"Oh, that's alright. Listen, Dave just explained everything to us," Brittany started, referring to her and her two sisters: Jeanette and Eleanor. "I just can't believe this Alvin!"

I sighed. I knew I was going to have this conversation at one point or another. "You can't believe it, but you're not angry at me like everyone else is. Dave of course isn't, but Simon and Theodore now hate my gu-"

"Yeah, that was kind of obvious. When we walked into the house expecting a big greeting, Dave was on the couch looking devastated. Simon was all bruised up and missing his glasses. He was comforting Theodore in the Music room. He looked so sad..." explained Britt, starting to choke up a little bit. She had always had a soft spot with Theodore when it came to his innocence.

"Yeah, well can you blame him? His whole life has been turned upside down and hardly anyone has bothered to console him. He no longer has two big brothers and a dad to look out for him. Just an imposter, fighting with a raging bull, and a man trying to keep control of a messy situation, to hide away and cry for. I wish it didn't have to be like this. I love him too much to want to put him through this." I whined, the guiltiness coming back yet again. I felt a lump form in my throat.

"You're not their brother Alvin," Brittany announced pitifully, "You're not their brother and you never told them even though you knew." She let go of me and pulled away to look straight forward into my eyes. Hers were full of disbelief and seriousness. Mine were full of despair and guiltiness. I just stared at her blankly then looked away. I didn't think that I deserved to look at that gorgeous face that I had been lying to for so long...

"Try telling me something I don't know Britt. Everything has been repeated in my head long enough without it being said repeatedly as well!" I exclaimed, "I feel horrible! Terrible! I know that sometimes I can be the biggest of jerks, but this was just going overboard! I just want it to end! All of us want it to end!"

"Well, how can we end it? The only solution is to let the news fully sink in and eventually regain their trust. I know that they both really still love and need you as a big brother...underneath the anger…and the rage…and the shock and resentment. Just give them time to think it through..." Brittany insisted. By now, she had forced me out of the log, onto the grass outside. The sky was still a murky grey; it was going to downpour at any second. Was it just me, or did the sky seem to reflect my mood?

"Brittany, I could give them _some_ of the time. I could give them _half_ of the time. I could give them _nearly all_ of the time. I could give them _all of the _time in the world, but it won't make a difference. They may learn to trust me again, but they'll never think of me in the same way ever again! If only there was a way to properly explain everything...like maybe you could hypnotise me and I could remember everything that happened after I fell off the ridge...Or maybe we could find my father and _he_ could explain everything...Yes! That's it!" I cried, snapping my fingers. I wish I hadn't; my head was still throbbing.

"What's it?" Brittany asked, in surprise at my sudden change of mood.

'My dad! He can explain everything that happened before I fell off the ridge! I can explain everything that happened after I fell if I get hypnotised!" I cried, "It won't help that much with reconciliation with Si and Theo, but at least they'll be able to have more of an understanding! It's the perfect way to get started!" I knew that I was sounding a bit cock-eyed at the moment, but let's face it; it's the best that anyone could come up with.

"How could that even work?" questioned Brittany, looking unfazed at my harebrained idea. She knew I would do this sometimes, "Is it even possible to hypnotise chipmunks in the first place?" I thought about this for a moment; she had a good point there.

"Well…I know that it is possible to hypnotise a chicken, so how could a chipmunk be any different?" I replied confidently, relieved that I had found an answer. The more I explained, the more I felt like my old self; full of optimism and schemes only an idiot can dream up. It felt good. Actually, after everything that has happened, I had never felt better.

Brittany managed to subdue me again with the question, "Well, okay…it's worth a shot, but what about your dad? He could be anywhere in America. It could take years to find him. How would you even know who he is?" This time, I didn't need to think it through. I had the answer straight away on the tip of my tongue.

"I know exactly where he is. Not being related isn't the only secret I've been hiding. This one, I've only been hiding for two months; around the same amount of time that I've been having those nightmares. My dad sent me a letter explaining a few things about my past. All he did tell me was that I looked exactly like him, but with my mother's eyes. Apparently, I'm actually called Alvin Junior and after he lost me, he migrated to Australia where he lives in a town called Wonthaggi." I explained, still smiling at the fact that I finally knew something about who I really was.

"Oh," Brittany said in amazement. I think she was just taking in the new information, "Wow, you must've been so amazed about that! But how did he know where you lived?"

"Uh, hello where have you been these last four years? Singing chipmunk and a world famous rock star? All's he would have to do is look up our address on the internet." I said incredulously. The answer could have been more obvious. We were now walking on the footpath towards home, my body still ached badly, but talking about my dad helped me to ignore it. It was as though inner strength was flowing out.

"When we get home, could I see the letter? I want to know more about him." Said Brittany in interest. She let me hold her around the waist so that I could walk easier with the bruises forming on my back. I took a moment before answering, too busy loving feeling her body heat warming up mine on this blustery cold day. Her scent was being blown up my nose in the wind; exactly like strawberries and cream. My favourite flavour….as of a few seconds ago.

"It doesn't say much more than I've told you, but alright." I replied. Together, we walked back to the flat. I was feeling nervous about being around my broth- Ah for crying out loud! I've got to stop doing that! Let me start again. I was feeling nervous about being around Simon and Theodore after what took place this morning, but having both Brittany and Dave on my side gave me courage. Finally, we reached home and pushed through the cat flap cautiously, Brittany going through first.

"Brittany! Where have you been? I was getting wor-Oh... you found him..."a brunette Chipette started as she bounded toward her older sister, but she stopped when she saw me climb through the cat flap. She looked at me with eyes filled with sadness. I think that was probably worse than if she had hated me. If she had hated me, I would have been able to block out her anger. But with her feeling sad, it made me feel even worse. I considered her like a sister, almost to the same degree I held my bro-(please just kill me now!)… ex-brothers.

To see her like that was... hard to deal with to say the least. I could only imagine how Eleanor, the youngest Chipette would feel. She was so bubbly and happy all the time, to see her react the same way as Jeanette would be even harder to face. I just wanted to show Brittany the letter and be alone. Or at least be with her.

"Hi Jeanette." I greeted, trying not to show my sudden change in mood. All the happiness I had just felt was completely sucked away.

"Have a nice time in Rome?"

"Uh... well... uh yes we... we did have a good time... I'm... I'm sorry..." she started but she didn't finish. Instead she turned and walked away, away from me. That hurt me a lot. She couldn't even face me. At least Brittany was with me. Dave had been my only ally, but now I had her back. She really was beautiful, and despite what the others might think, she was also so kind.

"Come on Alvin... let's just go and see this letter" the pink clad Chipette said, realising how I must have felt. She took my hand and pulled me back to her waist. That action alone spoke volumes of just how worried she was for me. It wasn't much, but that gave a little assurance, that I was still cared for, at least by her.

On the way our room, Dave was talking seriously to both Simon and Theodore. All three looked our way and I looked back only at Dave. He stared at me with sad eyes. All I could do was look back at him apologetically before moving on.

We reached the bedroom where the entire Chipettes luggage had been dumped precariously on the floor, bits of clothing here and there. I released my grip on Brittany and limped over to the loose floor board in the corner, lifting it up. I pulled the letter out and handed it to Brittany before both of us climbed up onto my bunk…

_**That chapter was scary, sad and kinda cute at the end….It gets better trust me….And please keep the reviews up!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**First time for Brittany's point of view. If you were asked to do this, what would be your answer? Reply in the Reviews.**_

**Runaway Chipmunks**

**Brittany's POV**

I can't believe what he just asked of me. I don't know what to say, I really don't know what to say to him. I can't believe he would trust me so easily. It would be such a great adventure…It could even mean something special could happen between us…Oh, I like him so much, this is almost a dream come true…But no, I shouldn't…..I couldn't do it to my sisters…I can't just ditch them, especially since they don't really know where my loyalties lie at the moment…Oh, but I want to _so_ much…What should I do?

"Britt, I know that this is a big thing to ask of you. But…I-I can't do this alone; I need somebody to help me. And…you have no idea how much I want that person to be you…" Alvin admitted shyly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. I gulped nervously. I had never been in such a life changing position before. I had to choose between my two sisters, who I love dearly or the guy of my dreams who might just be falling for me. This was insane!

"I-I…..um…I appreciate you asking me Al, but seriously…running away with you to Australia? That's just a little bit crazy don't you think?" I stuttered, trying not to hurt his feelings. He looked a little bit downhearted, but nether the less, he wasn't going to give up on me that easily. We were sitting on the front lawn this morning. It had become too awkward to sit inside with the others watching our every move. The boys were giving the silent treatment to Alvin and my sisters didn't know what to do. They didn't want to hurt anyone, so they didn't know who to comfort. They just sat there looking miserable.

"Crazy? Of course it's crazy! It takes crazy people to do it and you are perfect for it!" Alvin raved on, "We already know that Dad lives in Wonthaggi. It's in the state of Victoria, so all we have to do is take a plane to Melbourne than catch a Taxi. We'll find him in no time at all! What could possibly go wrong?"

"Everything; that's what could go wrong! We can't just disappear on our family, Alvin. If I run away from Jean and Ellie, they may never talk to me again…I know it breaks your heart to not have Si and Theo's trust, even though you have shown them so much loyalty over the years. I just don't want to be in the same position as you; a traitor! I know that it's selfish…, but they're my baby sist-"I insisted, but Alvin cut me off.

"They're two independent Chipettes who can take care of themselves. Not to mention that they have their own counterparts to back them up! That's what I need right now Britt; my counterpart to back me up. There's only one possible way to fix this whole feud, as crazy as it is, we can't afford not to try it! It's for the family's sake of survival! If we cut it off at the pass now before this thing goes off the rails we can be a family again…That's all I want…..and I know it's what you want too…more than anything." Alvin pleaded. He drove a good point there; there really wasn't any other option…

"Okay, fine I'll go with you…" I started. Alvin gave a look of triumph and gratitude, "But if anything goes wrong-"

"Nothing will go wrong-"

"If anything bad happens-"

'Nothing bad will happen-"

"One slip up-"

"Slip up? Don't be ridic-"

"I'm blaming it all on you. Okay?"

"Okay, we have a deal!" Alvin cried and jumped up, running at me and picking me up to swing me around. I was stunned at his sudden outburst of enthusiasm and giggled with a thrill of ecstasy, happily enjoying it. But as soon as the mood change started, he dropped me, me landing with a thump on the grass. Alvin became bent over wincing, his gorgeous hazel eyes filled with pain. He looked at me smiling, chuckling lightly, "Ha ha, I got too far ahead of myself there…forgot about the bruises…"

"Well are you okay?" I asked, getting off the ground and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. He shifted his weight slightly into me, but I kept quite steady with him being quite light. With him now secure, we set off for back inside.

"Yeah, I'm okay now. Just shouldn't have done that…Sorry about dropping you like that by the way." He replied cheerfully, trying his best not to be too much of a hassle for me. I didn't mind at all, after all I was one of the only two people he had left. It kind of made me feel guilty that I was enjoying the pleasure and closeness that his issues and his injuries were bringing me. At least I was repaying him by keeping him company and helping him to find his dad.

Speaking about finding his dad,"Hey Al, when are we leaving for Melbourne? The sooner we leave the better you know!" I asked, now very keen on leaving. Alvin was right; the best way to solve this feud was to make a move as soon as we could.

"Tonight." He answered simply. "I checked out the flight times on the internet while you were all sleeping last night. I booked two tickets for 9:30, just in case you did want to come using Dave's credit card. He has no idea that I know his pin number off by heart. I was going to go with or without you. We can slip out when everyone else is asleep. I know that Dave is going to get us to bed early to avoid any more fighting."

I readjusted his grip on my shoulders which had started to slip, "Good. So what do we pack? What clothes should I take with me?"

"Nothing too flash, we need to keep a low profile until we find Dad. I'm going to take some flannelette and bowling shirts because my hoodie is too recognisable. I'd also recommend you ditch your pony tail, for something a bit less styled like plaits or something. Other than that, bring only your barest necessities." Alvin suggested, limping through the cat flap behind me. I dropped my voice down to whisper so nobody could get wind of our conversation.

"Not even make up? How could I go without any make up? I'd look horrible!"

"Are you kidding me? You look great wearing anything or not!" Alvin said, letting go of me and standing up on his own. Obviously, his back was hurting a bit less. I smiled at him, receiving a nervous chuckle from him in return. He looked a bit embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and blushing furiously. He was so sweet when he let something like that slip. "Um...So, I guess we should discuss how we are going to do this then?"

"Guess so." I answered, still smiling. And off we went...

_**Hypnotism? What's he playing at? I can't believe she actually went with this…..**_


	7. Chapter 7

**There for Theodore**

**Theodore's P.O.V**

I sat on the couch in silence. Simon had spent all of yesterday afternoon trying to comfort me. He just didn't understand. I wasn't upset just because of Alvin. I was upset because my family was being torn apart. I just wanted it to all be over. I wanted Simon to stop being so angry and be my brother again. I wanted Dave to stop being so sad and return to being my caring father. I wanted the Chipettes to stop being so upset and return to the happy and playful girls they usually were.

But most of all, I wanted Alvin back. I wanted him to be my brother. I wish this had never happened. I just want us to all be happy together again. Now we are all divided. Simon is filled with hatred. Dave is filled with sorrow. The girls are worried, and I'm just so confused. Part of me wants to hate Alvin for what he has done, but most of me am just so sad. I feel as though all the happiness has been sucked away, leaving me just a hollow shell of what I once was. I just want this to all be over. I just want my family back.

"Theodore, are you alright?" the question broke through my thoughts. I looked up to see the most beautiful creature in existence. Her blond fur was smooth and shiny all the way from her feet up to the bobbing pig tails of her hair. Her green dress matched her eyes, which were like staring at two sparkling emeralds. Her smile was probably the most amazing thing to witness.

It was the sight of heaven itself when those furry lips moved to form the crescent moon of a smile. But today, that moon was completely upside down. Her pig tails weren't bounced around playfully. And her eyes, those sparkling emeralds were drenched in concern and sadness. I don't know what it was, but seeing the most amazing person in my life sad, made me feel even worse.

"I'm ok Eleanor..." I sighed, turning away from her. I didn't want to get drawn into a conversation about my feelings. I could barely understand them myself, so all I would be doing is forcing my problems onto her, and I didn't want that.

"Theodore... are you sure... you haven't said a word since this morning" she tried again. She moved closer to me and sat down. She placed her hand on my shoulder. That warm feeling I got whenever she was around was so magical. It was like floating in a cloud whenever she was near me. But not today; today, my feelings were an anchor that winched me down into the muddy waters of sadness.

"I'm fine... really... I just don't feel like talking..." I sighed. I turned away from her, but I could feel the concern she had burning into me. It was overwhelming. That just made it worse.

"Oh... ok then... if you... if you do want to talk... I'm always here. I'll always listen" she said before she climbed back to her feet and slowly walked away. She was so worried for me, I could feel it emanating from her. That was just making me feel even sadder. I watched her leave the room. She made one final look at me before she disappeared around the corner and out of sight. I waited a while, then I felt myself lose control and tears started to flood from my eyes. I tried to cover them with my paws, but the flowing water was too strong to hold back.

"_Why did this have to happen? Why did our lives have to be turned upside down? What did I do wrong to have this happen to me, to have this happen to my family? I just want it to end. I just want it all to end. I want my brother back!" _the painful words circled around in my mind, forcing the tears to continue. I just wanted all this to be over. I would do anything for all this pain to just go away, so I could live my life in happiness again. But that was impossible. My life would never be the same again. I don't think I will ever feel happy again. One of the most important parts of me has been stolen away, never to be returned. This was probably the saddest I had ever felt in my entire life.

**Eleanor's P.O.V**

I walked away from him, Theodore, the kindest, sweetest person to ever enter my life. I loved everything about him; his fluffy brown fur, his twitchy little nose, his happy giggle, his bright green eyes, and his amazing smile. That smile could make me feel good no matter what the circumstances. Just seeing him so depressed and saddened, made me feel terrible. This was such a shock. Alvin 'wasn't' his brother. I could feel how strongly Alvin still felt for Theodore, and Simon too, but they both just felt so hurt and betrayed that they didn't know how to deal with it.

Simon was letting his anger get the best of him. I remember Jeanette almost balling her eyes out after she had seen his new temper. His witty and dry personality gone, replaced by the hatred that now resided in him. But Simon wasn't the only one affected by this. Theodore was so upset. He tried to act angry and annoyed at Alvin, but I could feel deep down, he was more upset then angry. He felt hurt and he didn't know what to do.

I wanted to be there for him and make everything alright, but he was pushing me away. He was so confused; he doesn't know how to handle this on his own. But he just won't let me in. I think he is trying not to hurt me or throw his problems on me, but that is what I want. I want this strain to be off him, I want him to talk about this. I want him to be him again. The absence of that smile is just killing me.

Suddenly I heard a sound. I had reached the end of the hall so the sound was faint, but I could definitely here it. It sounded like crying.

"Oh, no!" I cried, once I realized the location of the sound. It was coming from the lounge, right where Theodore was.

I bounded along the corridor as fast as my paws would carry me. I slid around the corner, and my heart sunk when I found I had been correct. Theodore was crying intensely, his paws covering his sopping eyes. Already tears had begun to mess up the fur under his eyes. I scuttled towards him and leapt onto the couch. He didn't even seem to notice me, he was crying too hard. I didn't say a word. I simply moved to him and wrapped my arms around him. Almost instantly, he flung his arms around me and started to cry onto my shoulder. I did nothing to stop him. I simply hugged him tighter.

"It's alright Theodore, it's alright. Just let it all out" I cooed softly as I rubbed his back. His grip on me didn't falter. We hugged all the time the two of us. Whenever we were happy, we hugged each other. Whenever we were sad we hugged each other. Even for no reason at all we hugged each other. I cared for him, and I could tell that he cared for me. But now, this hug had nothing to do with happiness, it was far deeper then sadness, and it had a purpose. Theodore's entire world had just come crashing down around him.

I could feel just how sad and confused he was from his embrace alone, let alone the tears streaming uncontrollably from his eyes. I just wanted him to be happy again, for this to all go away so he could resume his life the way he once had. But that time may never come. This revelation was just so much for all of us to take in. It changed everything. None of us could see Alvin the same way again. He was still a part of this family, but he just seemed, different, as though in all the years we had known him, only now was his true identity revealed to us.

It was as if we had all just been living with a stranger. Perhaps this was how it felt when my sisters and I first became a part of this family. We were outsiders, chipmunks that they had only just met. Yet they allowed us to stay, to become family. It was the happiest moment in our lives, and we would never want to trade it for anything. Now Alvin had just had that taken away from him. I don't know how I would feel if I found out that one of my sisters wasn't related to me.

Theodore slowly began to calm, but he didn't release me. I didn't try to make him. I didn't want him to. I wanted to just sit here and hold him forever; to just try and wish away his problems just by being with him. But Life didn't work that way. His problems were still here, and they were deep and painful. No amount of wishing could simply make them disappear.

"El-Eleanor... I... I'm just so... confused. I w-want this a-all to end." he whispered to me as his tears slowly came to a halt.

"I know Theodore, I know. Don't worry; we are all here for you. I'm here for you. Whenever you want to talk, about anything, I will always be here for you. You don't have to be alone in this Theodore, I want to help you. But you need to let me help." I said the words strongly. Slowly his grip on me slackened and he pulled away. He stared at me, his expression completely filled with sorrow.

"Ok Eleanor... I... I don't want to talk right now... but when I do... I'll find you" he said quietly. I wanted to try and help him so much. But I could tell, he was still struggling with this. He wanted to keep it all balled up inside, to try and force his emotions to go away on their own. I wanted him to talk to me now, but I knew that this was his decision and he had to make it on his own.

"Alright Theodore. As soon as you want to talk, I'll be here for you. Always" I said. He gave a weak smile for a moment, but it didn't last long as his emotions forced it away.

I knew now that there was nothing else to do. Until he was ready to open up, there was no other way for me to help him. I gave him a quick hug and looked into his eyes, to let him see that what I had said was true, that I would always be there for him. I just hope that he understood that.


	8. Chapter 8

_**I can't help but to feel sorry to poor Dave….He's probably the only human on earth that has to deal with this on a day to day basis….After 52 years of putting up with it, I'm surprised he hasn't just kicked them out the door….**_

**Notes and Revelations**

**Dave's POV**

_Dear Dave,_

_As you are reading this note, Britt and I are heading to a place that will not be named for our own safety. It pains me to say that I was left no other choice but to depart. This is a mission of mercy for the whole family's sake, so as hard as it's going to be, I need you to trust the both of us. Brittany is only accompanying me out of peer pressure...And being the only one that I could trust to not rat me out. I still trust you Dave, but even you know that this is something you'd never approve of._

_Just relax and let us sort this out. Take care of Simon and Theodore. I'm not too sure about Simon, but don't let Theodore worry about us. We'll be fine in the company we are looking for. Brittany wants to let her sisters to know that she still loves them and is doing this for their sake as well as mine. I'm sorry that it had to come to this Dave, but if this can ease the pain everyone is feeling right now, it'll be worth it._

_See you as soon as we can come home, Alvin_

I couldn't believe this, this was insane. I had predicted something like this could happen with the little maniac, but I never thought that he would manage to con Brittany into it. I knew that they had a certain fondness for each other and I was happy about that, but running away to another country was going too far. I re-read the letter over and over so fast that it made my eyes water. There was only one emotion running through my head; Anger. There was only one thing I could say, "AAAALLLLVVVVIIIINNNN!"

I sat back down on my bed and took a deep breath. This could not be happening...actually, yes it could. This is Alvin we're talking about, his an absolute nutter. There was only one thing to do now: tell the others, work out where they've gone and find them before they got themselves into trouble!

"Simon! Theodore! Jeanette! Eleanor! Get in here NOW!" I roared through the house. The anger wasn't towards them, but it was the only way to get rid of it without tearing everything in sight, limb from limb. The four chipmunks came scrambling into the room, both startled and nervous at the tone in my voice. I didn't really care. I turned on the boys first and asked calmly, "Do you know what happened while we were sleeping last night?"

"Umm...no?" they chorused. I rolled my eyes, the anger turning into sarcasm and impatience. They exchanged confused looks with the two Chipettes and I continued.

"Well, it seems Alvin was feeling unwanted and unloved," I started. I didn't direct the statement towards anyone, but I could tell that both boys were saddened by my words. I didn't blame either of them, regardless of what had occurred, I just wanted Alvin to be safe. The anger was making it rather difficult to get that across.

"He has decided to do a runner with Brittany to another country and refused to tell us where, so we won't interfere! How could he be so naive? Of course I would have wanted to help!" I cried, throwing the note to the floor so that the chipmunks could take a look.

Each one of them read it very carefully before deciding how to react to it. Simon was the first to finish; he just rolled his eyes and shook his head as if to say, "Typical, absolutely typical." Jeanette had become a little tearful, reading about how her sister had ditched her. Theodore was next, looking a little perplexed, but still seeming unable to pick an emotion between anger of sadness, and his confusion was clearly evident. Eleanor just looked up at me and asked, "He took Brittany?"

I sighed. Sarcasm became worry, "Yes. Yes he did. You know what he said in the letter; _'The only one that I could trust to not rat me out'. _Obviously, he knows something we don't and has gone off to do something about it. But didn't tell us because he knew nobody would listen except for her!" I stood up and started pacing the perimeter of my room. Why didn't he trust me? Where did they go?

Theodore was looking confused, completely lost in thought, this looked hard for him. Everybody was watching him intently. It wasn't everyday that you see Theo actually using his brain for something other than food. The more he thought, the more a look of realisation spread on his face and five minutes later, he had it. He snapped his fingers and everyone looked surprised.

"I've got it!" he cried in a know-it-all manner worthy of Simon, "Obviously, he didn't want to stay here after the trouble he has caused and has run away. Hardly anybody seems to love him or want him as a faithful family member and probably feels that he can't live here anymore. So if he can't live here with this family, who would he go to?" Theodore asked. His attitude had definitely lessened by his thinking, but the aura of conflicting emotions still encircled him, confusing everyone else to his sudden outburst. Everybody just shook their heads vigorously while I halted my pacing.

When nobody answered he decided to continue, "Well...think about it! If he didn't have us to look out for him, and we didn't have him to look out for us...who else would he want to stay with? Who else does he love and trust?" Still none of us answered. Theodore gave a sigh. It wasn't a Simon sigh when he found he was the only one to understand something, but a sigh that indicated that even Theodore wasn't entirely confident with his answer. I just wanted him to continue, I was intrigued. "His father; he must know where his dad is and has gone to stay with him instead!"

We all gave a gasp of,"Ohhhh...that's why!" His dad! Of course he would want to see his dad! We weren't the only ones who wanted answers! Alvin probably wanted to reunite with his father and find out the full story! If he knew, then he could give us the full explanation! How that was going to help with making up for lying to us for so long, I didn't have a clue. It seemed a bit cock-eyed of an idea, but then again Alvin was a bit of a cock-eye himself. He had also proven to be pretty unpredictable...I mean come on, he had as all fooled with the family thing.

"But why would he take Brittany with him?" asked Jeanette, looking dismal at the disappearance of her big sister. Eleanor walked over to her and gave her a reassuring hug. I expected Simon to at least look a little bit concerned about this, even if it was just for Brittany. But no, he just stood there with his nose in the air, pouting.

"I guess just she's doing what Alvin's doing," I said reassuringly, 'She's doing what she thinks is best for her little sisters and the family." The Chipettes smiled at that comment. Obviously, the thought of their big sister taking matters into her own hands just for them, was somewhat comforting.

I was glad to help them, but it didn't improve my mood a bit. Of course I was worried. Of course I was concerned about their wellbeing, any good parent would be...But I was worried about the most was the fact Alvin could be just leading himself to disappointment. What if his father wasn't where Alvin thought he was? What if he isn't who Alvin had always thought him to be? What if...What if he was actually horrible and...he hurt both of them physically? This _was not_ a chance I was going to take!

"We have to find them...and fast!" I whispered my mind full of determination. I raised my voice a little louder and turned to Simon, he stared back with indifference. "Simon, if they were headed for somewhere in another country, do you think that they'd buy their tickets at the airport or on the internet?" His look changed from indifference to quizzical before rolling his eyes.

"Well, if Alvin was smart (which he isn't) and if he knew a thing about staying undetected (which he doesn't), he would buy the tickets at the airport." He grunted with distaste, as if saying Alvin's name left a terrible taste in his mouth. "Knowing that jerk," he continued looking up to see my look of warning, "He would buy it off the internet."

"Well good! That narrows it down! All we have to do now is look for the website he bought them off and chase them!" Eleanor cried excitedly. Without hesitation, nearly everyone ran for my laptop in the study, Simon lagging behind in disapproval. I slumped myself onto a computer chair and turned it on, waiting impatiently with everyone else gathered around the screen. Eventually, it caught up with our unspoken demands and we were surfing every website where tickets were sold.

In everyone, we were left disappointed. Site after site and still...nada. After at least an hour, Jeanette piped up and squealed, "There look! It says that two tickets to Melbourne, Australia! That's where we have to go!" I immediately became excited, but still felt my heart fall...Australia? Are you kidding me? And now I remembered, how did he know my credit card details in the first place? Why that sneaky little-

"Who in their right mind would go looking for a chipmunk in Australia?" I asked, feeling a little bit confused, "I would understand if it was a kangaroo or something, but a chipmunk?"

"Alvin, that's who," Said Theodore. He looked a bit amused at his ex-brothers plan, but immediately went back to gloominess as he continued, "He has never been in his right mind! So, are we going after them?"

"Of course! All's we have to do is buy tickets for ourselves...And we can be therein...What? Two days? You can't be serious!" I exclaimed, checking the next flight times. Oh, well...I guess that's the best we can do for now...Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get packing!

_**Simon's P.O.V**_

I stood at the window watching out through the rain. Cars headlights glowed through the torrent of ice water. I knew that everyone else was probably freezing, but I wasn't. Something inside me was keeping me warm. It was the fiery rage within me.

"_Why is everyone so worried about that lying piece of scum? I'm worried for Brittany, but who cares about Alvin? If he wants to go gallivanting off to god knows where then I say let him. He should have left years ago instead of hurting us all now. That bastard; he ruined the last 6 years of our lives. Now he expects us to just put it all behind us like it was nothing. I hope he never comes back!" _I thought to myself angrily. The anger pulsated throughout my entire body. It was like my blood stream was filled with fire.

"Simon..." the voice of an angel called to me. I turned to see she had approached me. Her lavender glasses resting on her petite little pink nose, her soft brunette fur and her amazing purple eyes; The Chipette in front of me was the absolute spectacle of beauty.

"Simon, I need to talk with you..." she said, averting her gaze from mine. The sadness in her eyes was unbearable.

"What is it Jeanette?" I asked, taking a step towards her, reaching out my hands so I could hold her in my arms. But she stepped away from me.

"Simon, why are you doing this?" she asked. I was confused. I was trying to hug her to make her feel better, what was wrong with that? She'd never stopped me doing so before. Oh how I loved her touch. The warmth from her fur was so nice. How I wish I could just hold her in my arms forever.

"Doing what?" I asked, trying to track down the source of her sudden avoidance of me. Had I done something wrong?

"Simon, Alvin has been with you your entire life. He loves you and Theodore more than anyone else in his life. He loves you like a brother. Why can't you do the same?" she blurted the question out, but seemed relieved that she was finally able to get it off her chest. Suddenly, the hatred in me flared up.

"I'll tell you why Jeanette. That liar just spent the last 6 years of his life telling us he was our brother. Then we find out that it was all a lie. He then expects us to just forget about it. Go on with our lives like nothing had happened. I hope he never comes home." I growled. I didn't want to be angry with her, but discussing that bastard just made my blood boil. She seemed even more upset by my response then when she had first approached me.

"Simon, don't be like that. Alvin did what he thought was best to give you the best life possible. He didn't want to hurt you guys, that's why he kept it a secret. He is family-" but I cut her off. I simply couldn't take that. 'Family', he had no right to that title, and he never should have.

"No Jeanette. He is no family of mine. He has no relation to me, yet he thinks that he is deserving of a place in this family. He lied to me for 6 years. If he hadn't wanted to hurt me, he would have told me long ago." I said coldly. I turned away from her and returned to watching the blistering rain fall.

"Simon-" she started, but I wanted this conversation to end. As much as I cared for her, I wasn't about to get drawn into a discussion with her about Alvin. I just wanted to forget about him and try to live out the rest of my life as if he hadn't ever been a part of it.

"Jeanette, I'm sorry, but I don't want to discuss this any further. Alvin is a pathetic lying piece of garbage and I refuse to acknowledge him any further. I don't care about him anymore. He is not my brother and he is not a part of this family." I said, my voice like ice.

"So...I guess you don't care about me either?"

Her voice struck me like lightning. I cared for her more than anything in my life. How could she say that? I wheeled around to face her. Tears had begun to form from her beautiful violet eyes, but her face was turned into an infuriated scowl.

"And you mustn't care for my sisters either…or Dave." she said angrily.

What was she talking about? Brittany, Eleanor, Dave, I loved everyone in my family.

"Jeanette, of course I care about you. I care about you so much. I care about all of you. I love Dave, and Brittany and Eleanor are like sisters to me. Why would not care?" I pleaded, the flames of hatred completely extinguished. All I wanted now was to see her happy again.

"Oh really? Dave's not related to you. My sisters aren't related to you. I'm not related to you. So if none of us are related to you, we mustn't be allowed in this family either." she said fiercely.

I didn't know what to say. Of course they were a part of the family. I cared for all of them, especially her.

"Jeanette I..." I started but she silenced me. Next thing I knew, she showed a side I never expected her to be capable of.

"Simon, family goes a whole lot deeper then blood. Alvin is a part of this family, whether he is your brother or not. I'm not related to him, and I'm not related to you Simon, but we are all family. So, you can go off and be angry all you want, sitting here alone pouting, but it changes nothing. Alvin made a mistake, a big mistake, but that still changes nothing. Your blood is not the same, but that, changes, NOTHING!" she screamed, and I was taken aback by her words. I didn't know what to say. It was like her words had slapped me into reality.

"Jeanette..." I started, but she wasn't finished yet.

"No Simon. I don't care what Alvin has done, he is still a part of this family. Why do you think he left, huh? To go on a vacation? No, he is feeling so upset that he has left to try and make you happy. He is leaving the one place he has always been loved and cared for just because you were angry. That shows how much he cares for you Simon. He loves you as his brother, but all you do is sit here and yell at how much you hate him for doing something he did to try and protect you. So Simon, I don't care whether you're angry or not. Alvin is a part of this family so get used to it!" she growled. Before I could say another word, she leapt away from the windowsill and raced out of the room, the tears streaking from her eyes the entire time.

I just stood there, unable to speak as my mind processed everything she had just told me.

"_Could it be true? Does he really care that much?" _I thought over and over in my head. Flashes of time started to whizz passed me. I remembered our lives before we had found Dave. Without my glasses, I had always had difficulty seeing things in the forest, but Alvin had always done everything he could to help me. He had even saved my life a couple of times when I nearly fell into a river or out of a tree. I would always end up embarrassed, but he never let me think badly of myself.

Whenever Theodore had been scared, Alvin was always there for him, being the supportive bigger brother that would look after him. I remember the first thunderstorm after our parents ran off to the commune. Theodore was scared out of his wits, but Alvin had kept his cool and took charge. I could've done it myself, but I was being an even bigger chicken than Theo…

When we had found the girls, Alvin had gone to rescue them from Ian on his own, just because he cared for them and didn't want them to get hurt. Alvin had always been there for everyone. He had always cared. Even after I had treated him so badly, he was still trying to do what was right by me. He had left, just to try and make me feel better. He hadn't been the bastard, _I had_!

I just stood there as the revelation washed over me. Jeanette was right. Regardless of blood, Alvin _was_ our brother, and he _was_ a part of this family. I had been lying to myself; I _did_ love him. And man, we needed to find him before it was too late!

_**So Simon finally woke up to reality, but it was too late now, they had already taken off. Will, he be able to make things up with Jeanette and find the Runaways in time? A very happy event is coming up soon! Up next, it's time to see things in Alvin Senior's point of view!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**So here we meet the new main character. To give you a short description of him: He's Alvin with green eyes and a grey streak!**_

**Found: One Son**

**Alvin Senior's POV**

I woke up feeling the same way I did every morning: curious about what exciting things could happen today. Great things happened everyday in Wonthaggi. Just the other day, a young kangaroo successfully gave birth to her first Joey, which doesn't happen a lot for first timers. Yesterday, a lucky three year old girl got her daddy back from Iraq. Everybody had thought that he had died after he was reported as Missing in Action. It's always great to witness these happy events, but I just can't help wondering when it'll be my turn.

I guess I should add that today was my birthday, something that I should be celebrating. Usually, people who are celebrating it loved waking up to presents and cards, hugs, kisses and all the love that comes with it. They'd even be having a special breakfast made. I don't mind living without the presents and breakfasts because all I wanted was one thing...my kid back.

It had been almost six years since I had last seen my son. Six Father's Day's and birthdays had gone past without AJ. I could still remember everything about him. His little attitude, that small smirk, that glint of mischief behind his brown eyes…his mother's eyes. He had looked like a Mini Me, but I supposed that after so long, he would just look like me…and taller no doubt. By now, he was nearly a grown up and I had never been able to experience growing up with him.

Actually, I had thought that he was dead…at least until a few months ago. I was so shocked when I first saw him on the cover of that album in the music store…_Undeniable_ I believe it was called. And when I heard him singing on the radio, I was even more stunned by his voice. I didn't know he had it in him. He sounded so much like me, but with the melody of his mother. I had sent him a letter as soon as I found his address in L.A, but didn't tell him everything so he would be intrigued to find out more.

I could've just gone back to America and turned up on his door step, but what would I say, "Hi, I'm Alvin Sr. Remember? The horrible dad that let you fall to your near-death six years ago?...Well, I'm here to take you back now." No, that just couldn't do. If he wanted to know me, he would have to be the one to make the first move. But would he take me back? Did he want to see me? Just little did I know that I was in for a surprise that would make this the best birthday ever?

It was springtime in Australia, so it was unsurprising to know that half of Wonthaggi's residents were in bed with hay fever. With the other half either off to school or off to work, leaving outside to us animals. I wasn't an outside animal myself; I lived with an elderly couple in Drysdale St. This morning, I was expected to meet Chelsea at the park to play some cricket or something. She had no idea that it was my birthday because I never told her.

Chelsea was a sweet kid. Clumsy, no doubt, but she had a heart of gold. To give a very short description of her: she's a red Talking Kangaroo. America has Talking Chipmunks that excels in Music while Australia has Talking Kangaroos that excel in sports. I'm pretty sure that China has Talking Pandas that excel in theatrics, but they are too rare these days to know for sure. Anyway, where was I?...Oh right, I had to meet Chelsea at the park.

After a hasty breakfast, I headed down to the Guide Park. The grass was particularly green today, the spring flowers interrupting the soil here and there. It was quite nice weather, no wind and the sun was just peaking through the clouds. The playground was empty and waiting patiently for the school day to end. There was my best friend: sweet, innocent Chelsea parked up on one of the swings.

"Morning Alvin! Ready to get your tail whipped with the footy?" she called, bounding over as she spotted me on her two strong legs. She pulled an Aussie Rules football out of her pouch. Her grin was infectious as always and I smiled warmly back. Chelsea was always enthusiastic about everything. Doesn't matter what it is. I wanted to challenge her, even if I do constantly get beaten, but today, something was holding me back.

"You know I'd love to Chezza, but for some reason, I just can't find myself getting beaten by you today." I sighed, folding my arms. Chelsea's expression faltered and looked down hearted. She let go of the footy and it dropped, rolling at my feet.

"Why not? Is there somethin' wrong?" She asked.

"Well, not for me, but for you there is..."

"What's wrong for me?"

"The fact...that... you can't catch me! Syke!" I called. Without warning, I scooped up the footy and ran on two legs for the goal posts fifty feet away. With the footy safely tucked under my arm, Chelsea came leaping after me, shouting out empty threats while laughing. I felt the soft grass teasingly tickle my feet, I loved that feeling.

"Alvin, you little sneak! Just wait until I catch you. You can't win that easily!" she roared. I looked back to see that she wasn't that far behind.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure I can!" I teased. With one swift kick, the footy went through the middle post, scoring me points. To show her annoyance, Chelsea picked me up and threw me high in the air, just managing to catch me as I fell. Just playing, she set me on my back and threw air punches at my stomach. I laughed hard. She did this all the time and it never got old.

Pretty soon, I forgot all about it being my birthday as we played the morning away with footy. Sometimes she had the ball, sometimes I did. We would run back and forth, forgetting about everything and everyone else. It was a great feeling. I smiled the whole way through with my heart mainly filled with joy and my mind on the footy. I reckon that everybody should give it a try at least once.

By lunch time, we had had it and walked down the street to buy lunch. We came back with a couple of sandwiches each and sat down at a picnic table, munching away and thinking to ourselves. I suddenly remembered again that it was my birthday. My heart gave that funny jolt you get when you remember something important you had forgotten.

And again, my thoughts went back to my son. I wondered where AJ was now. Probably performing in some faraway city to thousands of screaming fans. Oh how I wished I could live the high life like him. Rich, famous and of course, talented to the bone. But, time was getting on and I was looking older than ever. Who would offer and old fart like me a recording contract?

"Ah, crap!" Chelsea cursed, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked around to see that the footy had fallen off the table and was now rapidly rolling down the hill. Chelsea look disgruntled and began to get up, but I stopped her.

"Chill Chezza, I'll get it!"

**Alvin Juniors POV**

"Did you say something Alvin?" asked Brittany curiously. Today, she was looking particularly gorgeous in her Aussie get-up. She was wearing a pink and yellow plaid flannelette shirt with her usual skirt, but with plaits instead of her usual high ponytail. I was wearing a matching red and yellow flannelette shirt instead of my trademark sweater.

"No, I haven't said a thing in like, ten minutes." I replied, enjoying the warm sun that I hadn't felt in a long time. It felt so good after that stormy weather in America. At the moment we were at the park in Wonthaggi's centre, sitting on a couple of rocks near the stream and soaking in the sunshine. We were both very jet-lagged after the 22 hour flight from L.A, but decided to explore the town before looking for Dad. We were way too excited to sleep.

It was really hard saying good-bye to the house and the people living inside it. I had no idea when I would see it or them again, but I hoped it was soon. And maybe, just maybe when I went back, I would not only have my dad, but also a chance to reconcile with the boys that I have been proud to call my brothers. Related by blood or not, we were still family…I just hoped that they felt the same way too after a while.

"But...I could've sworn you said something...like you whispered it or something." Brittany continued a look of confusion on her face. "You said something about chilling and that you'd 'get it'. What are you trying to get?" She picked a flower and placed it behind her ear, only to let it fall off. Without hesitation, I picked it up and gently slid it back into position. Her fur was so soft that I almost melted. What love can do to you, huh?

"I'm not trying to 'get' anything," I denied. What on earth was she talking about? I looked around for any sign of anybody else in the park. The park was pretty big place; we were next to a steep hill on the edge. Apart from us, it was pretty quiet. I guessed that everybody was at school or work or something. "Britt, are you sure that you weren't just hearing things?"

"I'm telling you, I heard you say something…Huh, maybe there is just a buzzing in my ears after that long flight. It's altered my hearing." She replied thoughtfully, rubbing her eyes with tiredness. I was feeling it too. If I could, I would've just wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug and slept the day away.

Suddenly, there came something rolling down the hill, something red and oval shaped. There came something else rolling after it, this something was orange and brown. Both of them were travelling fast down the steep but short descent, both a complete blur to the eye. After only a few seconds, they reached the bottom and came into form near where we were sitting. The red thing turned out to be an Aussie Rules Football that kept bouncing away. I had seen one only a couple of times before.

The orange and brown blur turned out to be an animal…a chipmunk to be exact. Surprised, I scrambled off my rock and helped the poor guy to his feet. He seemed to be a bit dizzy, his eyes revolving comically in their sockets before learning how to keep still again. Brittany walked up and helped me to keep him steady as the haziness worn off, eventually coming back to his senses.

"Are you okay sir?" asked Brittany, amused at the poor bloke's misfortune. He mumbled a reply as I ran a few metres away to pick his football up off the ground. I looked at it, fascinated for a moment before walking back over.

"Hey, I like your football," I commented and looking over to the older chipmunk, "So is this a Sheri-"….I halted. My mind immediately had a mental break down and I felt my heart go absolutely haywire. My amusement was abruptly changed to shock as I saw the man in front of me, his facial expression matching mine to the tee. Not because he was as shocked as I was, but because he looked exactly like me.

My be-wilderness refused to subside as I stared hard. He looked exactly like me, but except for his eyes…they were bottle green. I remembered those eyes from along time ago. I used to wake up to see those eyes glisten with courage and even though I never worked out why, tears. The owner of those eyes was a man that I had deeply missed for a long time. He knew the real me. He knew who I really was. He didn't care about what I had done in the past. I could see that he missed me in the way of his stare.

He felt exactly as I did; as if there were so many emotions running through my brain, I didn't know what to feel first. Amazement, joyful…surprised. He looked much older then he did six years ago. There were lines starting to run through his face and his fur was starting to grey considerably. But who cares? There was my," Dad?"

"AJ, Is that you? My son?" The old man questioned, shaking his head in disbelief. Brittany looked as though she was going to say something, but she held her tongue for the moment. The more I stared, the more the shock settled in and happiness filled every nook and cranny of my body. A smile grew in his face simultaneously as on mine and before I knew it, I charged headfirst into his awaiting arms just like old times. He was bawled over as he barked his laugh.

"AJ it is you! It really is you!" Dad choked, shoving me off him and picking himself up. Too excited to keep still, I leaped back to my feet and embraced him again in a bear hug. He accepted the invitation and patted my back enthusiastically. Behind him, Brittany was grinning from ear to ear, thumbs up and tears of joy streaming from her beautiful eyes.

"Dad! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this! I missed you! I really did miss you!" I exclaimed, refusing to let go of him. I had been separated from him long enough. I was too afraid to let go of him just in case I lost him again. I felt like a little toddler who was reunited with his parents after being left behind for six minutes...but this was six years worth of being separated that I tried to put into that one hug. Dad continued to pat my back reassuringly; I knew he was beaming from ear to ear.

"I missed you too AJ," he whispered. Hearing him choke up made me choke up. We both silently let tears of joy and giddiness flow as the embrace continued. Father and son were finally together again.

_**Aww, what a sweet moment, I was nearly crying just writing it. The happy moments continue in the next chapter, so keep reading on!**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Look, I know that they found Senior pretty easily, but I wanted to just keep to the main storyline. This is a Fan fiction story, not a novel!**

**Who is this Alvin?**

**Alvin Senior's P.O.V**

I don't know how long that the two of us stood there, holding each other. It seemed like a lifetime, but I never wanted it to end. I could feel the tears of joy dripping from my eyes, but I didn't even try to brush them away. I did nothing at all, but hold the most important person in my life, the person I hadn't seen in years, the person that I had thought was dead. That person is my son, Alvin.

I could feel he had no intention of releasing me either. It was as though all those long years of separation were gone forever, like they had never happened. My son was in my arms, and I never wanted to let him leave them again.

AJ pulled back, looking me up and down. This went on for a moment before he said, "Wow, look at you…You're definitely looking older…And shorter than last time. Is that grey fur I can see?" He didn't say that in a mean way, it was more like teasing. He smiled the same devil-in-disguise smile that he used to do, making me crack up laughing. He definitely didn't get his sense of humour from his mother's side, that's for sure…

"Me? Looking older? Don't be ridiculous, you're the one that's getting along, Old Man. I mean…Just look at you! You've grown so tall…Nearly taller than me and that's a scary thought! This is all just such a surprise that you actually decided to come down here to find me…One minute, your in America and the next you're here…It was shocking enough to find out that you are actually alive after I had thought you were dead, but now this-" I stuttered.

"That's what I thought as well. Until you sent me that letter, I thought I was an orphan…But all that's behind me now. All that matters now is that we don't separate again…Man, I've missed you…Dad." He choked. I faltered. It seems like only yesterday that all he could do was giggle and chuck tantrums at the littlest complications. Now, he was nearly an adult and a lot wiser, speaking full sentences that actually made sense. It was nearly too much for me to cope with all at once.

All I could do was pull him back in a hug and pray that we never got separated again. This time, nothing was going to hurt or take my son from my sight. Slowly, a low bounding echoed behind me and I heard the familiar voice of my best friend.

"Oi, Alvin! I thought you were getting the footy. What's taking you so-" Chelsea stopped as she approached us. She was speechless. It was like staring at two of me, one being far younger of course.

"Um... what's going on? Why are there two of you, Al?" she asked, moving closer to us, her eyes wide with confusion and curiosity.

Slowly I felt AJ arms pull away from me, and mine from him. We both turned to face Chelsea, who still had no idea what was going on.

"Chezza, this is someone who has been missing in my life for many years. This is Alvin Junior...my son." I said, and I could feel the tears returning to my eyes. I moved my arm and wrapped it around his shoulders, just wanting to be able to feel some part of him again. It was like I was living in a dream and I just had to make sure it was real. AJ gave a nervous wave to Chelsea, but I could see in his eyes that he was trying to hold back more tears just like I was. I just can't believe this. He really came back. He really came and found me. Chelsea just stared at us both, completely at a loss for words.

"Are... are you telling me... that... you have a son? When did... when did that happen?" Chelsea asked completely stunned. I suppose her reaction was normal. I had never told her about AJ. It was just so painful for me to think that my son was dead, so I never spoke about it. I had only recently learned he was alive, and I hadn't told her yet. Well, now is better than never I suppose. Besides, it doesn't matter how she takes the news, the fact is, my son is back...This was so freakin' exciting!

"Uh... Hi there... um..." AJ started, when I realized I had completely skipped introductions. I was too caught up in my own happiness.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Chelsea, this is AJ. AJ, this is my best friend Chelsea" I said with a smile, waving my hand forward to indicate her.

"Hi there Chelsea. I'm... well I'm Alvin's son" AJ said, still a little nervous. This was probably huge for him. In another country, meeting a person of another species, but he was probably just so caught up with him finding me that he wasn't thinking straight. I would probably have faired the same way in his condition, and to a degree I was. Then I realized that Chelsea wasn't the only other attendee to this reunion. I turned around to see my son's female companion silently standing by watching the scene. Her eyes were teary as she watched the touching moment.

"And who is this lovely lady with you?" I asked AJ. He looked up at me and he seemed to go through the same reaction I had just had with Chelsea.

"Oh... well Dad, Chelsea, this is my best friend Brittany, of the Chipettes." he said indicating for her to come closer to the group. She nervously took a few steps closer and performed a similar wave that AJ had to Chelsea.

"H-hi there" she stuttered, but she wasn't scared. I suspect she too just wasn't thinking straight. This was such an unbelievable situation after all. I watched as my son moved forward and took her hand in his. The one who needed the most support I couldn't tell. All of us were just so overwhelmed by this. The four of us just stood there for a while. We said nothing at all; we just stayed in each other's presence.

I could see that Chelsea and Brittany felt a little awkward being involved in such a reunion, but neither could will themselves to move away. I didn't want either of them too and I could tell that AJ didn't either. Brittany was his best friend, and Chelsea mine, having someone else there that had such a large influence on our lives was like having a merging of families. Finally, Chelsea broke the silence.

"Well, maybe we should... head back to your place for a while Alvin. I'm sure that Brittany and AJ a probably tired from travelling. Where are you guys from anyway?" she asked as she picked up the stray football. I noticed that both Brittany and AJ were a little shocked that Chelsea didn't know where they were from. I had only known myself from an Album cover.

Apparently in America they were very big, but they hadn't had as a large of an impact here in Australia. I suppose that's why I moved here in the first place, so I could distance myself from where I had lost my son. In doing so I had cut all connections with the place, and only recently had I learned he had survived and made a name for himself as part of 'The Chipmunks' the only band consisting of chipmunks in the whole world. AJ said nothing, but Brittany seemed to be unable to hold her tongue.

"You mean you've never heard of 'the Chipmunks' or 'the Chipettes'? We're two really popular bands in America, I'm really surprised you don't know us." Brittany chirped. She was quite strong one. It was nice to see Alvin had been able to befriend such a beautiful and….well…a very fiery Chipette. I noticed that AJ gave a nod.

"Sorry, I really haven't. I don't really watch TV that much. I'm more into sports and outdoor activities; in fact just yesterday I hopped all the way to Venus Bay for a game of Rugby with my brother Ricko. My, that was quite the work out" Chelsea said stretching out her legs in remembrance of the long journey. I could see that neither Brittany nor AJ had any idea where that was. To avoid getting into a drawn out conversation about cities in Melbourne, I decided to follow up Chelsea's initial suggestion and take the group back to my house.

"Chelsea's right. Come let's head back to my house for a while, where are your bags?" I asked noticing that they only had one suitcase each on the rocks they had been sitting at.

"Well, this is all we have actually. We wanted to keep a low profile coming here so that we wouldn't have crazy fans or... other people, looking for us when we arrived…." he said, moving back to pick up his and Brittany's suit cases. Being a 'rock star' I could understand. I wasn't quite sure what he meant by _other people, _but that wasn't important. What was important is that my son was back.

"Alright then, just follow me and we'll be there in no time." I said giving a wave to the left to signal the direction we'd be taking.

The walk wasn't long at all, as Chelsea and I hadn't strayed very far for our football game. That was the convenience of Wonthaggi, everything that we needed was always close by. The whole walk Brittany stuck close to AJ. I guess she was still rather nervous about everything. It must have been so overwhelming for her. In a strange new place, with unfamiliar faces, and right in the middle of a reunion between a father and son. I am definitely going to have to get to know her better. She is my son's best friend after all. I think AJ was probably thinking along the same lines with Chelsea.

The kangaroo said nothing the entire journey to my house. For her, it was just difficult to suddenly find out that her best friend that she had known for around 5 years had a son that he had never told her about. I reckon the minute that Brittany and Alvin aren't in the same room as us she is going to interrogate me about everything. Oh well, what is there to hide anymore? The only reason I never told her anything was to try and hide my pain, but now that my son was back, there was no pain; so really, revealing everything to her would actually be a good thing.

Slowly Drysdale Street came into view and a series of newly designed cottages appeared. They all had that old style country feeling around it and made it just that bit more welcoming. Although I could tell that after leaving America; after living in no doubt a big house with lots furniture and electronics, seeing a cottage was probably a new experience for AJ and Brittany.

We passed quite a few houses until finally I led them to the last house on the street. It was probably the largest of the cottages, but it was by no means a big house. Really it was only the size of an apartment, but it was much nicer looking in my opinion. I suppose that must make me rather old fashioned, oh well.

I led the group up the pathway through the garden in front of the cottage until we reached the front door. A cat flap had been installed for me, but with Chelsea here we had to knock on the door to gain entry as she was much too large for it. Chelsea, being the largest, knocked upon the old wooden door and moments later an old woman appeared at the door. Her hair was fluffy and white, but her face was far from wrinkled. She was probably the youngest-old woman I knew of, if that even makes sense.

"Oh you're back already, Alvin. Hello Chelsea, always nice to see you!" she said with a big smile.

"Hi Alyson, nice to see you too," Chelsea said happily. Chelsea was quite a regular at our place. She was my best friend after all, and seeing her almost every day, my caretakers had grown used to seeing her popping in. However today, Chelsea wasn't the only guest.

"And who are these cute little critters?" Alyson asked, now turning her attention to AJ and Brittany. Brittany still seemed too nervous to speak so AJ stepped forward.

"Hello ma'am. My name is Alvin and this is my friend Brittany. I'm... well I'm Alvin's son." he said.

I watched as Alyson's eyes almost popped out of her skull. Unlike Chelsea, she did know I once had a son. But she was still under the impression that he hadn't survived the fall all those years ago.

"I see that you were under the same impression as Dad…You know…That I was dead?" asked AJ, looking a bit sincere.

"Well-…Well, yeah! Oh, it is so good to know you are alright! Please-come in, come in, I'll introduce you to my husband. Oh how silly of me, you don't even know who I am yet!" she said with a giggle.

"My name is Alyson Fetcher and I'm Alvin's caretaker. He's old enough to look after himself, but he sure isn't smart enough!" she said, giving another giggle when I frowned. Deep down I knew she was right though. I always was a trouble maker, and if it hadn't been for her and her husband, it would probably have gotten the best of me by now.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Brittany said, speaking up for the first time since the park.

"Please come on in and I'll introduce you to Leonard." she said in a kind voice, motioning for the four of us to enter. Chelsea and I casually entered, but AJ and Brittany were a little more cautious stepping through the door. They probably hadn't ever entered a house like this before and weren't sure about rules. I remember I was just like that the first time I entered. They'll get used to it soon.

Alyson led us into the living room where a balding man sat comfortably in his chair reading the paper. He was always doing that. No matter what time of the day it was, every time that I found him he always seemed to be reading the paper. In his mouth was an old fashioned pipe. I have no idea where he got the thing, but he always had it on him. It was a strange sight to see him without it. He never even lights it, he just keeps it in his mouth pointlessly. He is a strange old man, but I love him. As we approached him, he lowered the paper and looked at us all through his half moon spectacles.

"Hi Alvin and Chelsea. Who are your friends?" he asked giving us full attention.

"Leonard, this is Alvin and Brittany. Alvin is our Alvin's son" Alyson said indicating to the two newcomers. Leonard's eyes went wide just like his wife's. They really are perfect together those two.

"You're kidding me! Crikey, our Alvin's boy is alive after all! Glad to finally meet you." he said with a large grin. He always grinned around happily, even with my mischief, but today that smile felt so much deeper.

It made me even happier that my family was so happy for us. Family...huh; up until now that word had always felt like it was missing something, like I wasn't complete whenever it was said. Now I was. My family was back. My son was back. Finally, the person I loved more than life itself was back in my life, and I never wanted him to leave it ever again.


	11. Chapter 11

_**This is a chapter I wrote several weeks ago. This and the next one were supposed to go after the chapter we all were waiting for, but they fit quite nicely here. Enjoy these two, because the next one may take a little while longer.**_

**Explanations**

**Alvin Seniors POV**

A couple of days later, things were going fantastically with AJ. Every time we had a chat I got to learn so much more about him, and vice-versa. We treated each other like two brothers who hadn't met up for a few years, the kind that liked rough play and pulled witty insults on each other without meaning one word of it. He turned out to be just how I had wanted to raise him; athletic, talented, a great sense of humour (inherited from me) and a heart of gold (definitely from his mother.)

I was starting to suspect that there was something else going on between him and Brittany. It just that, AJ got instantly nervous and became very clumsy in her presence ...but that could be just a coincidence. If it was possible for chipmunks to sweat, AJ looked like he would be sweating the equivalent of Niagara Falls every second he was near her. Maybe, Brittany was aware of that. She kept close by his side and giggled at him even when he had done nothing funny at all...but, he could just be a funny guy to look at. I hope not, after all, I look just like him. It's all possible, but I'm not a nosy person...

I still wasn't too sure about Chelsea though. Poor kid had got the shock of her life when she found out I actually had a son. After all this time, she probably thought she had me all worked out, that she knew everything about her own best friend…But not so much now, eh? She just looked so lost in thought and confused….It was only a matter of time before the interrogation came into play and it happened the fourth day after AJ's arrival. She locked me in the study away from the others, arms crossed and serious.

"You have some explaining to do. You know that, don't you?" she started gruffly. Her Australian accent always got thicker when she was irritated or angry, her foot was thumping impatiently. This is not the right side you want to be on with a kangaroo…Even talking ones like her. I hung my head in guiltiness.

"I know I should've told you Chezza…I understand how you feel-"I began, but she cut me off.

"Understand? _Understand? _You understand what it's like to be lied to for a whole friendship? You know how it feels to think that you have someone all figured out, just to learn that you know nothing at all? You told Alyson and Leonard about him, but never me! Why Alvin? Can't you trust me?" Chelsea asked me, looking positively dismal. Her voice was very calm, but accusing at the same time.

"Chez-…Okay, maybe I don't know how it feels, don't have a clue. It's not that I've never trusted you; it's just that talking about this had always hurt. I had to tell the Fetcher's because there can't be any secret's between housemates. I really wanted to tell you, but…just the thought of having to relive that painful time has always been terrifying to me…" I finished in a whisper; all the joy I had been feeling had vanished without a trace.

Chelsea's ears and face fell when she realised that I was now depressed. I looked up at her apologetically.

"You know what Alvin? I had prepared a whole speech and a whole load of insults to throw at you, to make you feel bad. But now, I think you deserve a chance to explain yourself before I accuse you any further. It was really brave of you to move all the way over here, not knowing anyone or anything about the country. And I ask you to show that bravery one more time…What happened?" she asked. I sighed.

"And while you're at it, don't you think that your son deserves to know as well?" came a voice from the door way. Chelsea jumped out of the way. The door opened to reveal Alyson holding both AJ and Brittany in her hands, AJ looking apologetically at me and shrugging his shoulders, "_I don't know what she's talking about!" _She put the two kids down on the floor before walking out. I stared at my son worryingly. Was he prepared to hear this?

"Just tell the story Dad, I don't mind..." said AJ, looking a bit scared about what he's going to hear. Brittany rubbed his back reassuringly.

"Well, okay…Six years ago, I had everything I ever wanted. A beautiful wife, a nice home, a nice neighbourhood in the forest with a view and three beautiful kids to raise. Virginia and I were deeply in love, nothing could ever separate us for the world. We had two daughters and one very mischievous son," I started, nodding in the direction of the room where AJ was. Chelsea and Brittany nodded, giving me their undivided attention. AJ didn't seem to want to look at me; he was just taking it in as I spoke.

"Well, one day. I woke up to find Vinny very ill. She was vomiting everywhere, which means that I had to keep the kids away from her. I isolated them from her and did everything I could to nurse her back to health, but nothing worked. Soon enough, our two baby girls started showing the same symptoms which proved that only females caught this disease. Panic started to spread as I didn't know the cure to the disease. All I could do is nurse them and find alternative milk for the babies. I barely had time for AJ at all."

"Days past and we were all getting less and less sleep. The disease had affected them so much that all three had lost their appetite all together. I practically had to shove the food and milk down their throats, which was scary. I felt like I was hurting all of them on purpose. I hated it and even considered taking AJ and running, but how could I? They were my family. I had to stay. So after the girls had finally got to sleep late at night, I could finally have some time to myself and cry myself to sleep, only to be woken up again within minutes."

"Nights were the hardest of all. It got too cold for Vinny and she would be screaming out, "Please just kill me! Just kill me!" That woke the babies up and I had to start putting them to bed all over again. The girls all had a fever; they were still vomiting, with runny noses and whooping cough. What amazed me though is that AJ hardly seemed to be a bother. He seemed so strong and independent at just a few weeks old; as if he knew what was going on. He hardly cried at night and didn't complain at all…"

"Anyway…One night, Vinny seemed to be doing okay. She was sitting up in bed and was eating all by herself and so were the girls…We had the first proper conversation in weeks and even had a bit of a laugh. The girls were playing with AJ and giggling whenever he pulled a funny face at them. Little did I know that…The next morning…I found out that all three of them had died in their sleep…AJ alerted me when he started screaming; he worked out what happened…I just couldn't believe it…They had been just fine the night before…All I could do is wrap my arms around my wife and wonder what went wrong…"

"The last thing she said to me was, '_Not tonight sweetheart, we'll discuss it in the morning. I love you.' _So I was left to grieve and take care of my son. He became more precious to me than anything else in the world…Sometimes; he was the only reason why I didn't throw myself off a cliff…Every night, we wept ourselves to sleep and ourselves awake…He seemed to be the stronger one of the two of us, always trying to cheer me up and make me smile again. One day, I could finally start to recover and I adjusted my life…But all too soon, I lost him down that goddamn ridge…I spent weeks on end looking for him, but in the end I had to think the worst…"

"That's why I moved over to here. I couldn't stand living in the same forest that my whole family had perished in. Not even in the same country. Australia was the only place I knew I could try to live a happy life and forget. But, I guess once things like that occur, you can never forget it." I finished. The room remained quiet and solitary for a minute or two. Chelsea was looking reproachful, but in awe of what I had to go through. Alyson had come back in during my explanation and was weeping silently to herself. Brittany though, was watching AJ who had slumped down against the wall with his head hung low.

"I'm sorry Alvin. No wonder you never told me. It must've been devastating for you to lose your whole family like that. You were really brave to keep going." Chelsea whispered, not wanting to break the atmosphere of the room in the slightest. I tried to fight back a couple of tears, but they fell anyway, obliging Chelsea to give me a hug, which I accepted half-heartedly. I needed to say something to AJ, but when I turned around, he wasn't in the room...

**Alvin Junior's POV**

Why I bothered to run from the room, I don't have a clue. It was just so hard to hear and realise that that is really how my own mother had passed on. She must've been in pain; I had always thought that she had died quick and painless. It turns out though, that was only how I preferred to think about it, I was wrong. And to learn that I wasn't an only child from the start, I actually had two sisters was, least to say, shocking. I knew that I was going to have to learn about this at some point, but I never expected the time would come this soon.

So for the hundredth time within a week, I was left with a broken heart; only enough strength from within to cry to myself and be comforted again by the people in my life who hadn't rejected me. I had been yelled at, rejected, used as a punching bag, turned into a home-wrecker, become a runaway and the reason why my family couldn't get a decent night's sleep. The worst thing of all is that I knew it would be a long time before anyone _could_ get a night's sleep without crying during the night.

Only a few good things came out of this. 1, Brittany had still remained my best friend even though I had lied to her as well; which makes me want to care for her even more. And 2, I had somebody back in my life who made me be, well, somewhat complete again. Maybe it was for the better that Simon was mad and that Theodore couldn't look at me in the same way. It made way for a new beginning and cleared the air about everybody's opinions. That way we can re-start with a clean slate...If they actually wanted to talk to me again, that is.

Even with that little ray of hope glimmering in the distance, it couldn't stop me from crying on this beautiful spring morning. The sun did its part to try to cheer me up, its rays beaming down to dry my tears. But all that did was make my fur go all sticky around my eyes. A kookaburra up in the gum tree nearby was laughing its greeting to me, but he was just making me feel paranoid. No, nobody accept for Dad knew how to get me smiling again and that's exactly what he had found me out there to do.

"Soaking up the sunshine are you?" he greeted, trying to break the tension. I just looked up at him through the tears, wanting him to stay, but go away at the same time. He sat down next to me on the rock I had perched on and took a look around. The grass was starting to look a bit parched, but the flowers had never looked better in the garden. "That's always a good idea. You look like you need some after that cold weather in the U.S, eh?" He gave a weak smile; I didn't look impressed. He awkwardly placed an arm around my shoulders.

"Why did it have to happen to us Dad?" I asked between sniffles, "Why did our family have to go through this? Why did Mum have to die with my sisters? What did we do to deserve it?" Dad looked at me with concerned eyes and shrugged.

"AJ, if I knew the answer to every one of those questions, I'd run a campaign to become God, believe me." He replied simply.

"I-It just hurts. I had always thought that she had died quickly with no pain. I had always hoped-...Was it painful for her?"

"I wouldn't have a clue what really happened. All I know is that she died in her sleep, and you woke up screaming the next morning in her arms." Said Dad sadly, hanging his head. "Look, AJ. We could spend for ever trying to work this out, but that is all way back in the past now. All I care about is your welfare and safety now that I have you back. You're still the little survivor who kept an old man from doing something stupid and always will be. To me, you are still little Alvin Ross Goldstein Jr-"

"Goldstein? What, I'm Jewish now, am I?" I asked, greatly surprised at this new piece of information. My tears were quickly starting to go away. "Well, that explains why my-...You know what? Never mind..."

"Yes. Which reminds me; we still need to organize your Bar Mitzvah, but we'll worry about that later...For now the question we should really focus on is, why did you decided to come here? Was it because you missed me, or because you were thrown out?"

"A mixture of both," I began, taking a huge sigh. "You see, I made the big mistake of never telling anyone that I wasn't related to them. And when they found out, they weren't too happy about it-"

"Not too happy?"

"Yeah, Simon was furious that I had been pretending to be their brother and Theodore, well..." I went into a huge explanation about what had happened over the past few days. The more I talked, the more shocked and irritated Dad became at the behaviour of my family back home. When I told him about the punch on with Simon, he looked ready to chuck a hissy fit. It was kind of funny watching my look-alike dad's expressions. It woke me up to what I look like at certain emotions.

"So, let me get this straight," he raved with me now finished, "This Simon kid actually beat you up just because you wanted to make things right with the smaller one?"

"Well...I did kind of provoke him as well," I admitted slowly, "Ouch!" Dad's paw had struck the back of my head quite harshly. I glared at him in annoyance, but he just looked indifferent.

"Just because we're still bonding, doesn't mean I'm not going to treat you like the child you still are," He growled, "If I have told you once (that Dave probably has too), I've told you twice; if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all!"

"All right, all right! Still, you didn't have to hit me!" I huffed, rubbing the back of my head.

"That wasn't hitting, that was striking and it was perfectly called for-!"

So, we argued for the rest of the morning without a break. It actually felt good fighting with him; it was both different and fun. It was like I was fighting with myself because our personalities matched to the tee. It had been an interesting morning, but still a bit sad. And to find out that I actually was part of a religion surprised me...I mean come on! How many Jewish chipmunks do_you_ know?

_**I hope this makes up for the wait. I'm still not sure when we can update the chapter after next so we'll just have to see what happens. Keep reading on to find out what happened for the rest of the day...**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Adventures Down Under**

**Brittany's POV**

I thought it was hilarious to see the new double act arguing. The reason why neither of them won is because they're as equally skilled at debating; they both suck...It got so loud and raucous, everyone was killing themselves laughing about how ridiculous they looked. It got even better when Alvin called Senior a knucklehead and Senior pulled him into a headlock, making the fight to turn physical. They weren't angry at each other; otherwise they wouldn't have been laughing while forcing each other to the ground in the living room.

"Oh, you think its funny do you?" growled Senior mischievously; picking himself off the ground after Alvin bawled him over. He shoved Alvin off with a chuckle then leaped forward, pinning him to the ground. Alvin squirmed, but Senior refused to give him a break, "Son, you have got a lot to learn about what's in and out of good taste!"

"You call giving me a wet-willy good taste? Better taste your own medicine then!" cried Alvin. With one enormous push, Alvin shoved his dad away, quickly standing up and pulling Senior into a head-lock for the tenth time. With his free hand, he sucked one of his fingers and stuck it in Senior's ear. "Is it still in good taste now old man? Huh? Is it? _IS IT?"_

"Will you two knock it off already? You're both starting to give me the irrits!" groaned Chelsea, who was watching them with distaste. You have to hand it to her: for an animal whose way of settling debates is to raise their fists, she wasn't going to tolerate rough play. The Alvin's stopped mid-fight; Senior struggling to get out of Juniors grip, both of whom had been laughing loudly.

"Oh, leave them alone Chelsea! That's normal for men to want to prove to be the stronger one...Even if they both look ridiculous doing it!" I laughed. Chelsea glared at me sarcastically and rolled her eyes, shaking her head. I couldn't help already feeling close to that kangaroo. She was just so sweet and kind; exactly what makes a good friend. She and Senior had made us feel so welcome here, I had been nervous at first, but now, I felt so at home.

But it wasn't the same without Jeanette and Eleanor. It had barely been a week since we had run off, but life in Los Angeles already seemed a whole world away...I had never been separated from my sisters out of the same house before, let alone the same country! It was scary, to be so far away from them and not being able to contact them until we got home. I know that we couldn't afford to be found, but some part of me still hoped that Dave had managed to work out where we were and was coming to find us.

I was happy that we had found Alvin's dad so quickly. I've never seen him happier, even if he had to find out some horrible facts about his past. We had discussed this sort of stuff while packing to leave and on the Qantas plane here. I just needed to make sure that he was prepared, but nothing could've prepared him for this…Oh well, at the end of the day, he's still reunited with his long-lost dad and has me to back him up. I care about him so much and it had tared me apart seeing him so depressed.

"Everybody get in the dining room! Lunch is ready!" called the kind voice of old Alyson Fetcher. My stomach rumbled hungrily and I hopped off the couch heading for the dining room. Alvin bounded over next to me just as Senior went over to Chelsea. Acting like a total gentleman, he offered Chelsea his arm, who took it even though he was so smaller than her. They strolled past, Chelsea rolling her eyes at me and Senior blowing his own son a raspberry. Alvin looked perplexed for a moment.

"My gracious Brittany, may I have the honour of escorting you to our dining quarters?" said Alvin in a fake British accent with his hand extended, acting like a pompous prick. I couldn't help but to play along and took his hand gracefully. To my surprise, he bowed over and kissed my fingers before leading me down the hall with his nose suck up in the air as high as it could go. I got a little chill down my spine and gasped.

We walked down the hall with our noses in the air and our tails kept stiff. It was funny to see the look on Senior's face when he realised that we had managed to outclass him just by pure wit and sarcasm. "Oh look, Alvin dearest. It's a pity that they let such riff-raff like that into our country club. It's not so exclusive anymore." I said, pointing at them teasingly.

"Oh, yes. It's such a shame. We just might have to get another membership elsewhere!" Alvin huffed; it was his turn to blow the raspberry. Our charade was soon over, much to my chagrin as soon as we reached our destination. Alvin instinctively sat next to me at the chipmunks table, which had much smaller chairs for us to sit comfortably on.

As we started to eat our Vegemite sandwiches (not too bad tasting once you get used to it), I realised that Alvin still hadn't let go of my hand. When he realised, he quickly pulled his hand away and nervously chuckled at me. He flushed furiously, earning a giggle from me and Chelsea, who had noticed it as well. I looked over at her and she winked knowingly.

"So now that you two have settled in, what's the plan?" asked Senior curiously. Alvin and I exchanged quizzical looks, both realising that we had forgotten to discuss about this. We had been focused on getting here and finding Senior too much to plan what would happen when we found him.

"Well, um…We wouldn't know. We were too focused on finding you." I replied nervously. Senior looked at me slightly surprised before turning to Alvin, who merely nodded in agreement. To our surprise, he smiled.

"Well, that's good! I were thinking that you might end up going straight back home after a few weeks! There's no way you two are leaving Australia without taking a look around first!" announced Leonard happily. "Alyson and I have been discussing it and we have a surprise for all of you, even you Chelsea."

"We've decided that, in celebration of this happy reunion. We're all going on a trip through the Outback up to Uluru and the hot water springs in the Northern Territory! Isn't it exciting?" cried Alyson happily. Senior and Chelsea cried out in surprise and cheered for joy. We however looked at each other anxiously. Alvin looked fearful for the same reason that I was panicking. What about our family back home?

"What's wrong you two? Don't you realise that you have been offered a free holiday? This is brilliant!" said Chelsea with a huge grin.

"Well, it's just that…It's not that we don't want to go…It's just that, we can't go away for too long…" answered Alvin slowly.

"'What do you mean, AJ?" asked Senior curiously. It looked to him that anyone who didn't except a trip around Australia was mad.

"Well, um…Dave and the others…Don't know where we have gone to…We sort of just ran off on-Ouch!" Alvin whined. Senior had ran around the table and struck him on the back of the head again. Alvin rubbed the back of his now sore head irritatingly. Everyone else had the look of shock-horror on their faces.

"YOU MEAN, YOU RAN OFF ON YOUR FAMILY, WITH OUT SO MUCH AS A CLUE ABOUT WHERE YOU WERE GOING!" roared Senior angrily. I flinched and sub consciously grabbed Alvin's hand in fright. "ARE YOU INSANE!"

"Calm yourself Alvin!" warned Chelsea, picking me and Alvin up, holding us protectively, "They obviously had no choice in the matter! You know what he went through back there! He came here to get away from them and didn't tell them so they couldn't harm him anymore! Brittany sacrificed her own sisters just to be a good friend! You know as well as I do that you would've done the exact same thing! Give them a break will you?"

Senior took a heavy breath and sat back down, nether the less still annoyed. Chelsea put us down again and I gave her a grateful smile. She winked. I really like her.

"Dad, we came here to look for you. I missed you so bad and thought that you were killed by that eagle six years ago. I have never been so happy than I was when I saw you for the first time. I have my biological family back, but my surrogate family is in trouble right now…I know how to solve the problem and it involves you…Please, I implore you…as my Dad, help me!" Alvin pleaded. Out of desperation, he even crawled over to Senior and begged on his knees. Alvin had never begged to anyone else apart from Dave, but he was never this desperate at those times.

Senior remained silent for a few minutes, his eyes glazed over as he became lost in thought. A lot like Alvin did when he was cooking up a hare-brained scheme. We all watched him like a pack of vultures.

Eventually, he came back into reality and said, "You're right. I am your dad and I can help you. I naturally know what's best for you…Your family sound like they need time to think this through. A secret like the one you had to reveal isn't one you can take in and adjust to in a week. It would take at least a month…So in the meantime, I suggest that you come with us. It'll be worth it. And when I finally meet David Seville, I'll have a little Father to Surrogate Father Talk with him and explain that it was all my idea. That I thought it would be good to help you work out your principles and to work out who you really are."

"You would do that?"

"Of course I would. I'm here to look out for you, AJ." He replied simply, giving a smile. Alvin grinned in a way I had never seen him do before. It was so warm and happy to witness. It was a smile that he seemed to have harboured just for his dad…It was a very touching moment. It just goes to show that Love works in more ways than one…Oh, man. I think I'm gonna cry now…

"Thank you Mr-…Uh-"

"Goldstein, Mr. Goldstein, but you can call me either Al or Senior. It's your choice." Replied Senior politely.

"Goldstein? I didn't know you were Jewish, Alvin." I said in surprise, looking over my shoulder at him. He shrugged, suddenly becoming quite tense again and blushed furiously. I heard Chelsea giggle, but when I looked around, she pretended to be quite interested at a hole in the tiles. I glared over at Senior, but he quickly became interested in the hole too. Alyson shook her head at this. It appeared that Leonard had fallen asleep at the last minute. Was it just me or did they know something we didn't?


	13. Chapter 13

**And here is where I take the rains. Let's continue, shall we? **

**(Simon's POV)**

Theodore, Eleanor, myself and Jeanette, who still had not talked to me since our fight, were all glad to have a chance to stretch out our legs after the long flight from L.A. We scurried behind Dave, dragging out miniature, monogrammed luggage behind us.

"What's the plan, Dave?", Eleanor asked while keeping pace with Theodore. Thanks to Alvin having never mastered computers, we were able to retrace his steps on the internet. He had done quite a bit of searching for maps and information on a town in Victoria, called Wonthaggi. Even though we had just had a fifteen hour flight, which we slept for most of, and were all suffering from jet-lag, none of us wanted to wait.

"Well first we're going to find a way out to Wonthaggi. And once we get there we're going search hi and low for those two", Dave's voice was stern but at the same time had a deep tone of worry to it.

We stepped out of the airport and could see Melbourne was only a short drive away. We all crowded around Dave's feet so that we would not get stepped on by accident.

Dave flagged down a taxi and we all climbed in. It was a older car but the inside was very clean it would seem that the owner takes pride in their car.

"Where to?", the driver had a gruff voice that carried a tone of kindness to it. Dave buckled us all in and then himself before answering, "Can you take us to Wonthaggi?"

The driver turned to look at Dave, but stopped when he saw that there were four chipmunks sitting in his taxi. Eleanor waved at him, "Hello!"

The man smiled at us, "Hello. Are you who I think you are?"

I answered him, "That depends, who do you think we are?" Normally I don't mind talking with fans, in fact I generally love it. But right now I just wanted to find Alvin and apologize to him, that and get back on Jeanette's good side.

The driver chuckled softly, "Well, I think that you're The Chipmunks and The Chipettes. Though you look like you're short two members."

Dave nodded to the man, "Yes, and that's why we need to get to Wonthaggi. So can you take us there?"

The driver turned to face forward again and shifted the taxi into gear, "You need to find them? Why didn't you say so? Its about a two hour drive from Melbourne to Wonthaggi, so strap in."

We began to move and were quickly on our way.

The five of us tried to take in the sites as we moved though the city. It's a nice city, maybe we can check it out as a family once we find them. Once we were out of Melbourne we all settled in for the long drive. Dave and the driver struck up a conversation to pass the time.

**(Alvin Jr's POV)**

If a month ago you had told me that I would be in an old beat-up pickup truck with Brittany, my dad, two of the nicest old people I've ever met and a talking kangaroo sitting in the bed of the truck, I would have told you you were crazy.

If you had went on to tell me that the reason I was in that truck was to take a road trip though Australia, I would have called the nut house right then.

Normally I don't like long car rides but this time I didn't mind so much. The company was good and I loved the chance to get to know my dad and Chelsea better.

"Are you excited AJ?", my dad asked with a large smile plastered on his face, which was contagious because now I was smiling.

"Of course I am, how could I not be?" I did hope that Dave and the others weren't too worried about us though.

"How about you, Brittany?", Chelsea poked her head through the open window into the small two-door cab.

Brittany gave her a warm smile, I loved watching her smile, "Very much so."

Leonard chuckled while he drove, "I hope so, because once we're done you two might not ever want to go back home."

The whole cabin shared a laugh.

I stood up on the seat and stretched my legs out, one of the advantages to being so small was that we could move around in tight places. "So, where's our first stop?", I asked, taking my seat next to Brittany and my dad, between Alyson and Leonard again.

"Melbourne", Alyson rolled the window down while she answered me. "We should get there in about an hour and a half", she answered my next question before I could ask it.

**(Eleanor's POV)**

I adjusted my tail so that it wasn't stuck behind me anymore. We had been driving for about an hour and it was starting to get sore.

We had seen some odd things on the road, like for instance we saw an old blue pickup truck with a kangaroo sitting in the bed.

But the thing I found most odd was that Theodore hadn't said a word since we arrived here

I decided to try and get him to talk to me, "It's cool that we're on another continent isn't it?"

Theodore just nodded in response and I frowned. I had to try again, "Did you see the kangaroo in the truck?"

He nodded again.

I decided to drop the small talk, "Don't worry, we'll find them."

"I know we will...", I smiled at the sound of his voice. "But, I don't know what I'm going to say when I see him again."

My smile faded, "It will be alright, Theodore, I tried to comfort him.

"I'm not so sure. I'd rather not talk about it Eleanor, if that's alright", he turned to look out the window and I nodded to him.

"We'll be there soon", the driver, who I thought was a rather nice man, said to us all.

"Good, the sooner we get there the sooner we can start searching", Dave had a tone of eagerness in his voice as we neared our destination.


	14. Chapter 14

**(Alvin Sr's POV)**

AJ and Brittany stared with wide eyes as the sun was setting behind Uluru. "So what do you two think?", I asked, already having a guess at their answer.

It was nice to be out in the open and away from the city, after two weeks of showing them around Melbourne and Adelaide.

Brittany was the first to speak, "It's so beautiful."

Chelsea and Leonard walked over to us, both of them carrying a tent. Leonard smiled warmly, "Isn't it now?"

"Can we go check it out?", AJ asked with a hopeful tone. I could already see him climbing the large rock formation with his eyes.

I walked over to him and put my paw on his shoulder, "Tomorrow, its to late tonight."

His shoulders slumped.

"Cheer up, tonight we're going to have a campfire. It will be lots of fun", he perked back up at my words.

A short while later Leonard and Chelsea had set up two tents and a small camp fire was starting to take shape in between them.

As the cool night air set in we all took our seats around the campfire. AJ, Brittany, Chelsea and myself all sat on the ground on one side while Alyson and Leonard sat in fold out chairs on the other side.

It had gotten rather cold out but the fire kept us warm.

"So, what do you two think of Australia so far?", Alyson asked while the fire made her face glow with an orange light.

"It's great. I could have stayed in Adelaide and shopped forever!", Brittany exclaimed with a huge smile on her face.

AJ nodded, "It's wonderful. I always thought it would be just like America here but it's so different. Plus there is so much open space here." It made me glad to know that they were both having so much fun.

Brittany let out a yawn and stood up, "I'm going to go to bed."

"Aw come on, it's still early!", AJ protested with an exacerbated sigh.

She walked over to the tent that the four of us would be sleeping in tonight and paused at the entrance flap, "Good night everyone." She gave a wave and we all waved back at her before she disappeared into the tent.

I decided to ask AJ how they met, "You and her are really close, how did you get to know each other?"

He smiled while he thought about it. He took in a breath and began, "Well its kinda a long story but I'll sum it up. Basically when her sisters and her arrived in L.A they were tricked by my old manager. He convinced them that my bro...", he paused and got a sad look on his face.

"What's wrong?", Chelsea asked with a concerned tone and moved closer to him.

I was concerned for him. He looked very sad about what ever was on his mind, "I'm sorry if I brought up something you don't want to talk about."

He shook his head. "No its fine. I'll continue. He convinced them that Theodore, Simon and I were the bad guys. He got them to preform against us at a battle of the bands. They wound up winning the right to represent our school in a contest that would let the school keep its music program. When the night of the contest finally came we all gathered to watch but they were no where to be found." He paused for a moment and looked as if he was going over the events in his head again.

I waited intently for him to go on. He took a breath and resumed, " At the last minute we got a phone call and it was Brittany. Ian had locked her and her sisters in a cage and so I did the first thing that came to mind."

He laughed as he began his next sentence, "I stole a mini bike and went to rescue them from him. Long story short I saved them and we all made it back in time for the six of us to preform and win the contest and we've been friends ever since."

He nodded to himself as his story wound to a close. I smiled, my son was a hero and he does what ever he can to protect those he cares for, that made me swell with pride.

I walked over to him and put my arm around his shoulders, "That's the way to do it. Nothing gets you in good with a girl like saving her life. And I would know."

AJ's eyes darted around as if her was trying to figure out some way to change the subject. His eyes focused and I guessed he had an idea.

He looked up at me, "What do you mean you would know?"

I laughed, "Turnabout is fair play, I suppose."

He raised his eye brow at me and listened expectantly.

I took my hand from his shoulder and scooted back so I was facing him.

I loved this story it always reminds me of the happiest time in my life, "Well I would know because that's how I met your mother."

I now had everyone's full attention as I had never told this story before, not even to the Fetchers. "It all started when I wasn't much older then you are now. One day, in the spring I was going for a walk through the forest while looking for some food. The forest was buzzing with activity that day and many other animals ran through the trees over my head."

I paused for a moment to take a breath and partly for dramatic effect. "It seemed like it was going to be a normal day, that is until the sound of an eagle was heard and everyone ran for cover. Everyone except one chipette who was running for her life through the trees above me. I watched as she looked for a place to hide but the eagle was getting closer. I decided to follower her from the ground and see if I could do anything to help."

I stood up so that I could act out my story, what can I say I love theatrics, "I ran as fast as I could. She tried to jump from one branch to another by swinging from a smaller one above her. The smaller branch she latched onto snapped and she began to fall to the forest floor. I ran and manged to catch her just before she hit the ground." I acted it out by running and sliding in the dirt, pretending to catch something.

The other four watched me and waited for the rest of the story, hanging on my every word, " I stood up and put her on her feet. She looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes, which were filled with a mix of fear and thanks. She tried to say thank you but I covered her mouth when the eagle let out another call. I grabbed her hand and pulled her behind me as we ran for cover. The tree I lived in was not to far and we made a brake for it.."

I sat back down and smiled, "We made it back safely and the rest, as they say, is history."

**(Brittany's POV)**

I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but they shouldn't have started telling such good stories while I was trying to go to sleep. Alvin Sr's story was very romantic but I liked my Alvin's story better. They began to talk again but quieter this time, now that the stories were over.

I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying but I gathered that they were talking about love. My ears perked up when I heard the words love and Brittany in the same sentence.

I got up from where I was laying and moved the edge of the tent and put my ear the the fabric so I could hear better. Okay now I meant to eavesdrop.

The first voice I heard was Alvin the younger's, "I don't really know or want to talk about it." What are they talking about it?

Next I heard Chelsea's voice, "It's alright you can tell us, you're among friends here." I leaned against the tent even more.

Alvin spoke again, "I do love her... I just don't know if I'm _in _love with her." Is he talking about me?

"Well think about it. How do you feel when you're around her?", Chelsea asked and I waited for his answer.

There was silence as he thought about her question, well that what I guessed he was doing. That or they had realized I was listing and starting using sign language.

He cleared his thought and I could hear him take in a deep breath, "Well I smile a lot when she's around. And I hate to see her upset." I blushed under my fur.

My tail flicked back and forth in anticipation. "Sounds like it to me", Chelsea said with a matter of fact tone. I heard Alvin Sr grunt in agreement.

Alvin let out a groan, "I guess I need to accept it..." Darn it Alvin, talk!

He took another deep breath, "I'm in love with Brittany..." I fell back onto my bottom as I heard Alvin the older pat his son on the back.

There was a smile plastered on my face as I was lost in this moment. I was so lost I almost didn't hear him talk again, "I need to sleep on this."

I heard him stand up and start walking toward the tent. I rushed back over to the large sleeping bag that we were all shearing tonight and got under it and closed my eyes just as he walked into the tent.

I pretended to be asleep while he walked over to the sleeping bag and got inside of it and laid right behind me.

As I started to fall asleep there was only one thing on my mind, Alvin is in love with me.


	15. Chapter 15

**This chapter takes place on the same night as the last one.**

**(Theodore's POV)**

I sat next to Simon on a table in a small restaurant. Opposite of us sat Eleanor and Jeanette. We were all sharing a salad in silence.

I didn't like being so quite but with Jeanette still mad at Simon and me not know what to say about anything anymore, there wasn't much to talk about. Eleanor tried to start up a few conversations while we waited for Dave to come back to table from asking around about Alvin and Brittany.

As for the search, we had been in this town for two weeks and so far we only got very confusing answers. People seemed to know a talking chipmunk named Alvin but had never seen him with a female chipmunk.

I miss when things made sense, I miss my family being together and happy. Simon spent most of his time trying to get back on Jeanette's good side, but he always said the wrong thing. Eleanor and Jeanette were both very concerned with the lack of sightings of Brittany. They thought that maybe Alvin and Brittany had gotten into a fight and split up and that their sister was now wandering around a foreign land alone and afraid.

I knew that that wouldn't happen because whether or not Alvin had lied to us for years, he still did whatever he could to keep his friends and family safe and even if they were mad at each other Alvin wouldn't just leave her alone.

I was munching on a green leaf when Dave came back to the table and sat down with a sigh.

"Any luck?", Simon asked in an upbeat tone.

Dave shook his head, "No just more people who seem to know of Alvin but still nothing about Brittany."

Eleanor's shoulders slumped, which made me frown. She was trying her hardest to stay optimistic but it was starting to wear on her.

"I'll be right back", I said as I needed to use the rest room. I hoped down off the table and made my way across the restaurant.

As I reached the door to the bathroom someone calling out behind me caught my attention.

"Alvin? Is that you?", a tall, at least by my standards, blond man walked towards me. I began looking around thinking I had somehow walked past Alvin and not noticed. But I was the only chipmunk around.

He kept calling as he got closer, "I didn't see you get back in to town. How was your trip?" When he reached me he raised an eyebrow at me, "You're not Alvin."

Trip? Maybe this guy was our break, "No I'm not but I am looking for him. Can you come talk to me and my family?"

He shrugged, "Sure."

I scurried back across the restaurant with him in tow. When we reached the table I hopped up and took my plaice next to Simon.

"This guy knows Alvin and he said something about a trip", I told the rest of the table.

Dave sat up straight and looked the man in the eyes, "Hello I'm David Seville, its nice to meet you", Dave held out his hand the man, who took it and they shook hands. "Nice to meet you David, my name is Lee."

"So you know Alvin?", Dave asked, cutting straight to the point.

Lee nodded, "Yep I've know him for about three years now."

"Three years?", Dave said what the rest of us were thinking.

He nodded again, "Give or take a few months."

We all just looked at him with confused stares.

"Are we talking about the same Alvin? Small guy about this tall with green eyes?", Lee let his hand hover over the table just a little higher then us.

Dave shook his head, "No, the one were looking for has brown eyes."

Lee was now the one with a confused look on his face. After a moment he snapped his fingers, "Brown eyes. That sounds like how Mrs. Fetcher described Alvin's son when she asked me to keep an eye on their house while they were gone."

"Son? What do you mean?", Dave looked like he was just as lost as the rest of us.

Lee took a seat at our table and began to explain how Mrs. Fetcher had told him about how Alvin's long lost son, also named Alvin, had shown up with a female chipmunk and that they had all decided to take a holiday, as he called it, to celebrate.

Eleanor had perked up at the mention of a chipette but we were all still confused.

Dave leaned back against his seat, "So they came here to find Alvin's father, and now their on a trip to God knows where."

"I told you my name was Lee", we all gave him another confused look for what must have been the hundredth time that night.

"What?", Dave asked the man.

"I was correcting you. You said God knows where but I'm the one with that answer", he smiled at his own joke.

"That's great, where did they go?", Dave leaned forward and waited for an answer.

Lee put his hand to his chin while he thought, "Well I know they should be at Uluru by now."

"Uluru? That's so far away", Jeanette spoke for the first time of the night.

"You know where it is?", Dave asked her.

She nodded, "Yes, geography is my favorite subject."

"Way to go, Jeanette!", Simon exclaimed.

"Thank you, Simon", Jeanette got a shocked look on her face when she realized she had spoken to Simon.

Simon smiled, "Are you talking to me again?", he said in a hopeful tone.

She shrugged, "Maybe, we'll talk about it later."

"I can give you directions", Lee spoke up.

Dave nodded and within five minuets we had paid for our food and gotten back to our motel room.

We decided to leave first thing in the morning.

Now I found myself alone in the room with Eleanor. Jeanette and Simon were out in the hallway talking things over.

She hopped from her bed to mine and walked over to me, sitting down next to me.

She smiled at me, "We know where they are now, isn't that cool?"

I nodded to her, "Ya it is." She still wanted me to talk to her about how I was feeling but I don't know what to say.

"I can't wait to see Brittany and Alvin again, what about you?", she still gave me a warm smile.

I thought about my answer. Am I excited? Yes I am, but am I still mad? A little. "Me too."

She put her paw on mine and looked into my eyes, "I'm here for you Theodore, if you want to talk."

I nodded, "I know." What do I say to her? I don't like giving her the silent treatment, it makes me feel bad but I just don't know what to say.

Why not just try starting with whats on my mind? What can it hurt?, "What am I going to say when I see him, Eleanor?"

Her eyes lit up, " How about you start with, hello?"

"That might work. But what about after that?"

She gently rubbed my paw with her thumb, "Talk to him about how he made you feel."

"I don't want to be mad at him but I feel like I should be", he did lie to us, but he was still a great brother.

"Why do you feel like that?"

"Well he lied to Simon and I."

She nodded to me, "Yes, but did he do it to hurt you?"

I thought about it, "I don't think so."

"Well there you go then, now we know what you're going to say to him", She nodded to herself but I just raised my eyebrow at her, "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you're not mad at him you're just hurt that he lied to you. And you need to tell him that."

I smiled as I finally understood what I felt.

Without thinking about it I pulled her into a hug, "Thank you Ellie!"

She hugged me back, "You're welcome."

We pulled away from each other when we heard the door open.

Simon jumped down from the door knob. He and Jeanette walked next to each other as the door swung shut behind them.

"So are you two not fighting anymore?", Eleanor asked bluntly.

Jeanette and Simon both nodded their heads.

"Good then now all we need to do is get Alvin and Brittany back so we can have our big, happy family back together", I smiled at that thought and so did everyone else.

Simon and Jeanette jumped up onto the bed with us and sat down next to us.

"So what's the plan?', Jeanette asked.

"First thing in the morning we're going to rent a car and head out to Uluru and find Brittany and Alvin", Eleanor informed them. "But for now we need to get some sleep", Eleanor and Jeanette stood up and leaped over to their bed.

Simon and Jeanette both put their glasses on the table between the beds. Simon shut off the light and we all got under the covers.

We all said goodnight to each other. As I laid still and tried to fall asleep I had a smile on my face.


	16. Chapter 16

**(Brittany's POV)**

I awoke feeling something warm on the back of my neck. I looked behind me to fine Alvin had scooted closer to me in his sleep, and was now just behind me, this made me happy.

I looked around and found that we were the only two in the tent, I wonder where Chelsea and Alvin Sr. are?

"Good morning, Britt", Alvin rubbed the sleep from his eyes while he sat up.

I smiled at him, "Morning, Alvin."

My smile deepened once I remembered what I had heard last night. Alvin raised an eyebrow at my smile, "Whats got you so happy? Did I miss something?", he asked with a clueless tone.

I shook my head, "No I'm just excited. Come on Alvin we're a vacation, and in Australia no less!" I watched as he smiled, "You're right, that is a good reason to be happy."

I stood up and began stretching out my muscles when Chelsea poked her head into the tent, "Are you two up?"

She caught me off guard and startled me, causing me to fall over mid stretch. Alvin and her shared a laugh at my expense, I didn't mind to much though.

Once she was done laughing Chelsea continued, "Once you two are ready come out here, there's someone I want you both to meet", she pulled her head out of the tent and I heard her hop away.

Alvin and I quickly got ready and walked out of the tent. My breath caught when I saw Uluru in the morning light. I thought it was beautiful in the afternoon, but it was simply breath taking right now.

Chelsea hopped over to us and gazed at the giant rock with us, "It's wonderful,. Isn't it?"

Alvin and I nodded in unison. Chelsea picked us up, "Come on we'll have plenty of time to look at it later, right now you have to meet someone."

You would think being carried by a kangaroo would be a bumpy ride but her paws were surprisingly steady while she hopped.

"So who are we meeting?", I asked while we moved.

"Him", Chelsea motioned to another kangaroo with her nose, this one was larger then her. He was standing next to the truck with the Fetchers and Alvin Sr. His fur was the same color as Chelsea's.

"Who is he?", Alvin asked as we reached the group.

She smiled, "My brother", we stopped moving and she put us down next to Alvin's dad.

The larger kangaroo smiled at us, "So these are the two runaways I've heard so much about?" He crouched down and held out his paw to us, "Nice to meet you, my name is Ricko."

Alvin and I each shook one of his fingers. "I'm Brittany Miller", I motioned to myself.

"And I'm Alvin", Alvin gave one of his famous smiles, I love his smile.

"Miller?", Sr. gave me an odd look.

I nodded, "Well that's my original last name, I was also Brittany Hawke for a short while and now I guess I'm technically Brittany Seville." I shuddered when I thought of Ian. How did we fall for that?

"Let get something to eat and have a talk while we do", Sr. said while he led us back over to the campsite.

The three of us shared a granola bar while Chelsea, Ricko and the Fetchers were talking about something to do with a tour of some sort.

"Can I ask you something Brittany?", Sr. seemed to be deep in thought as he talked.

Didn't you just do that? "Of course."

"Do you know your parents' names?" What an odd question.

"Yes, well kinda. Our mom talked about our dad but we never met him. My mom's name was Regina. I think my dad's was Buford."

Sr. nodded, "I had a feeling."

Now I was getting confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well I knew your dad. In fact he was involved with Vinny, Alvin's mother, before he left her and the forest in search of fame. I had always wondered what happened to old Buzz."

I raised an eyebrow, "Buzz?"

"That was his nickname when we were rivals in the forest. What happened to him, do you know?", Sr. took a bite of the granola bar.

I frowned at the memory, "Well Mom said that he died before we were born but she never said how."

Sr. frowned, "That's too bad, I'm sorry I brought it up."

I shook my head, "Don't worry about it. That's not what made me sad, I never knew him. It just made me remember my mom. She died about a year before we heard about the Chipmunks and decided to go to L.A"

"How did she die, if I might ask?" Sr. asked cautiously.

My frown deepened as I remembered, "She was out gathering food and... a dog attacked her." My vision blurred as my eyes filled with tears.

What happened next caught me off guard. Alvin pulled me into a hug and gently rubbed my back.

"It's alright, Britt", Alvin spoke softly.

I felt Sr.'s paw on my shoulder, "I'm sorry, Brittany. I didn't mean to bring up painful memories."

I shook my head, "It's not your fault." Alvin still held me tight which made me happy and helped me stop crying.

I pulled away from Alvin and smiled at him while whipping my eyes, "Thank you Alvin."

He gave me a warm smile, "Its what I'm here for."

As our tender moment was wrapping up Ricko and Chelsea hopped over to us.

"Are you guys all fed?", Ricko asked.

We all nodded and he smiled, "Good. Then are you all ready?"

"Ready?", I asked, with an eyebrow raised.

Sr. slapped a paw to his forehead, "I forgot to tell you two. Ricko is good friends with the Pitjantjatjara

people and set us up with a tour around Uluru."

Alvin and I both had huge smiles on our faces. I looked at Ricko, "Thank you. How did you get to know them?"

Ricko chuckled, "Well, when you hop around as much as I do you get to know people."

"After the tour we're going to pack up and head to Alice Springs for dinner", Sr. went over the plan with us.

This is going to be so much fun!

A dark skinned man walked into our small encampment. Ricko Introduced everyone and we were quickly on our way around Uluru.

I sat on Chelsea's shoulder with Sr. while Alvin was on Ricko's, They had taken a likening to each other.

Our guide was a very nice man though I never quite learned how to say his name so I won't even try but he was an elder I know that much.

We learned a lot, like how Uluru is sacred to their people and that people were not aloud to climb it anymore. Alvin was a little disappointed about that but I was happy. Its not that I have a problem with heights its just I'm not to fond of falling to my death.

The tour lasted a few hours and by the time we reached our camp again it was mid afternoon.

Alvin and I gathered the food while Chelsea, Ricko and Leonard packed up the tents.

Alvin and I finished it all and had some time to talk. I thought about telling him I heard what he said last night but he seemed like he would tell me when he was ready. I just hope hes ready soon.

"Ricko is really nice." I hadn't gotten much of a chance to get to know him but Alvin liked him so I say hes a good person.

Alvin nodded, "Ya he said next time we meet he would teach me how to play football the right way. I hope he knows some good plays that I can share with the rest of the team."

I giggled, "Alvin, you know that he's talking about soccer, right? Football is what the rest of the world calls it."

He frowned, "Why? That's just confusing."

"Are you two ready?", Sr. asked as he walked over to us.

I stood up and so did Alvin.

"We better get going it's a long way to Alice Springs and we want to get there in time for dinner", Sr. lead us over to the truck.

Ricko was leaning against the back talking to Chelsea who was in the bed already.

"This is a nice old Ute you've got yourself Mr. Fetcher", Ricko complemented.

"Ute?", Alvin asked what I was thinking.

Sr. chuckled, "That's how we refer to what you call "Pickup trucks" here."

"Bye Ricko", Chelsea gave her brother a hug.

Alvin and I walked over to him and he leaned down and picked us up.

"It was nice meeting you", I smiled at him.

Alvin hopped over to Ricko's right paw next to me and held up his own paw, "High five!"

Ricko gently tapped Alvin's paw with his own, much larger one.

He set us down, "It was a pleasure to meet you both."

We both hopped into the cab and took our seats between the Fetchers.

"See you around Ricko", Sr. called as he joined us.

"See you guys later," Ricko waved as he hopped off towards Uluru.

"Everyone ready to go?", Leonard asked as he started the truck.

We all nodded and with that we were on our way to Alice Springs.

**Sorry about the Elder not getting a name I tried to find some examples of ****Pitjantjatjara names but to no avail. **


	17. Chapter 17

**(Brittany's POV)**

Alice Springs was a nice city. We were all gathered in a small restaurant. We had all just finished our meals and were now just sitting and talking.

"So Dad, can you sing?", Alvin gave his father a taunting but friendly smile.

Sr scoffed at the question, "Where do you think you got it?"

Alvin's smile deepened, "Okay I see a karaoke machine over there. How about you and me put it to use and see if you can put your mouth where your... well, mouth is."

Sr hopped to his feet, "Alright just don't get to mad when you can't keep up, Junior."

The Alvins quickly made their way over to the machine and started it up.

I smiled, I loved it when those two got competitive.

Alvin hopped up on the machine and picked through the songs until he and Sr agreed on a song.

Alvin hopped back down and took his place next to his father. They shared the microphone as the beat to "You're the Voice" by John Farnham began to play.

Sr. took the lead.

"We have the chance to turn the pages over. We can write what we wanna write. We gotta make ends meat before we much older."

Alvin took the next part

"We're all someone's daughter, we're all someone's son. How much longer can we look at each other down the barrel of a gun?"

They began to sing in unison.

"You're the voice, try and understand it. Make a noise and make it clear. We're not gonna sit in silence, we're not gonna live with fear!"

Sr. took the lead once again.

"This time we know we all can stand together. We have the power to be powerful, believe me we can make it better."

Alvin's voice now rang the loudest.

"We're all someone's daughter, we're all someone's son. How much longer can we look at each other down the barrel of a gun?"

Their voices came together in unison again.

"You're the voice, try and understand it. Make a noise and make it clear. We're not gonna sit in silence, we're not gonna live with fear!"

Alvin repeated his last line once more

"We're all someone's daughter, we're all someone's son. How much longer can we look at each other down the barrel of a gun?"

Their voices came together for one last time for the last verse.

"You're the voice, try and understand it. Make a noise and make it clear. We're not gonna sit in silence, we're not gonna live with fear!"

The entire room applauded them as they bowed, well almost the whole room. There was one man who just sat there and watched. What was his issue?

Watching them sing gave me an idea.

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV)**

As my dad and I scurried back over to the table I couldn't help but be proud of him. It also made me happy to know that the talent ran in the family.

We arrived back to the table to find Brittany standing on Chelsea's shoulder whispering something into her ear.

"I don't know Brittany...", Chelsea gave Brittany a cautions look.

"Come on we can't let them have all the fun!", Brittany pointed at us.

What does she have planed?

Chelsea looked at us and got a smile, "You're right, lets do it!"

"Yes!", Brittany let out a sequel of excitement.

Brittany grabbed onto Chelsea's fur to keep herself steady as they hopped over to the karaoke machine.

I smiled, I love it when she sings.

They quickly picked out their song, having obviously chose it ahead of time.

"Its Raining Men" by The Weather girls began to play.

This is going to be good.

Chelsea held the mic in her paw and kept it close enough that Brittany could use it as well.

Chelsea bounced from one paw to the other while they waited for their part.

The two of them began.

Brittany:"Hi"

Chelsea:"Hi!"

Brittany: "We're your weather girls."

Chelsea:"Ah-huh."

Brittany: "And have we got news for you!"

Chelsea: "You better listen!"

Brittany: "Get ready all you lonely girls and leave those umbrellas at home!"

Chelsea: "Alright!"

Brittany: "Humidity is rising"

Chelsea: "Mm rising!"

Brittany: "Barometer's getting low."

Chelsea: "How low girl?"

Brittany: "According to all sources."

Chelsea: "What sources?"

Brittany: "The streets the place to go."

Chelsea: "We better hurry up."

Brittany: "Cause for the first time, just about half past ten."

Chelsea: "For the first time in history."

Brittany: "It's gonna start raining men."

Together: "It's raining men! Hallelujah, it's raining men! Amen!"

Chelsea: "I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna let my self get... Absolutely soaking wet!"

Wow, Chelsea can really sing!

Together: "It's raining men! Hallelujah, it's raining men! Every specimen!"

Brittany: "Tall!"

Chelsea: "Blond!"

Together: "Dark and lean. Rough and tough and dark and mean!"

Brittany: "God bless mother nature, she's a single woman too!"

Chelsea: "She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do!"

Brittany: "She taught every angle to rearrange the sky."

Chelsea: "So that each and every woman could find the perfect guy!"

Together: "It's raining men! Hallelujah, it's raining men! Amen! It's raining men! Hallelujah, it's raining men! Amen!"

Chelsea: "I feel stormy weather moving in"

Brittany: "About to begin."

Chelsea: "About to begin. Hear the thunder. Don't you lose your head. Rip off the roof and stay in bed! "

Brittany: "Rip off the roof and stay in bed!"

Brittany: "God bless mother nature, she's a single woman too!"

Chelsea: "She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do!"

Brittany: "She taught every angle to rearrange the sky."

Chelsea: "So that each and every woman could find the perfect guy!"

Brittany: "Oh its raining men ya!"

Brittany "Humidity is rising"

Chelsea: "Humidity is rising"

Brittany: "Barometer's getting low."

Chelsea: "Its getting low low low low."

Together: "According to all sources. The streets the place to go Cause for the first time, just about half past ten. For the first time in history. It's gonna start raining men!"

They continued the chorus as the music faded out.

We all clapped as they came back over to our table.

"That was amazing you two!", my dad complemented when they took their seats.

"Thank you", Brittany and Chelsea said in unison.

"Is everyone ready to go? Its a long drive back and we have to set the tents up when we get back, so we should get going", Leonard asked while he paid the bill for dinner.

We all nodded and were quickly on our way back to Uluru.

Brittany fell asleep quickly and leaned against me while she slept.

I tried to keep my eyes open but I was just to tired and quickly fell asleep.

**(Alvin Sr.'s POV)**

It was a long drive back but I didn't mind. AJ and Brittany looked so cute leaning against each other while they slept. I wonder if he's told her yet?

Probably not. We pulled to a stop and, hopped out of the UTE, leaving AJ and Brittany asleep while Leonard and Chelsea set up the camp.

Chelsea carefully lifted AJ and Brittany and took them to our tent.

"Are you coming to bed yet, Alvin?", she asked after setting them down in the tent.

"I will in a little while. First I want to enjoy this cool night air", it was a beautiful night.

She nodded before entering the tent herself. The Fetchers had gone to bed as soon as their tent was set up.

I sat on the ground and looked up at the moon. I thought back on the night, it had been a lot of fun singing with my son. He had a wonderful singing voice, of course he does, he is a rock star.

It was also fun to sing in front of all those people. I've never sung to anyone but my wife and kids before. It felt good.

I sat for a while longer just enjoying the quiet and thinking about the future. Now that I had Alvin back what was I going to do when he goes back to America? Should I go with him?

There's still plenty of time to think about such things, but for now its time for bed.

I started to walk over to the tent when I was lifted into the air by my tail and thrown into a bag.

"What's going on?", I called but got no response.

I could feel that I was moving and I could here my captor's foot steps as they ran.

Who are they? And where are they taking me?

I guess I'll get my answer soon enough.


	18. Chapter 18

**(Chelsea's POV)**

My eyes shot open when I heard Alvin Jr. yelling about something.

"Dad? Dad, where are you?", he called from outside of the tent.

Brittany was now awake and we both rushed outside to find Alvin frantically scurrying around the camp site calling out for his dad.

"What's wrong?", I asked as he ran past us.

"I can't find Dad, he wasn't in the tent and I don't see him anywhere out here!", I began to look and see if I could find any sign of him.

"Maybe he went for a walk", Brittany suggested, trying to calm Alvin down but he kept running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

Figuring the only way to calm him down was to find his dad, Brittany and I joined in his search.

The Fetchers had been awoken by all the commotion and had come out of their tent. Alyson saw us all searching, "Whats going on?"

"Alvin is missing", I answered her while I kept looking.

They joined us in our search. After a few minutes I found something odd, "Come have a look at this", I called the others and they gathered around to look at what I had found.

We all looked at the shoe prints in the dirt, starting just in front of our tent and leading away from the camp site.

"I'll follow these and see where they go". I said while following the trail with my eyes trying to guess where it lead to.

"I'll come with you!", Alvin ran towards me and was about to climb on my shoulder but I stopped him.

"No, you should stay here in case your dad comes back. If these lead to him I'll be back with him in no time, so just wait here alright?", he gave me a look that I had seen on his dad's face many times before.

"I have to come with and make sure he's okay!", Alvin protested and stomped his paw into the dirt.

"Alvin, what if someone took him and what if they're dangerous? I'm sure I can help him but I don't know if I can keep you and him safe, alright?", I tried to get him to accept that I was going to go alone.

He frowned but nodded, "I guess you're right, but I'm not going to stop looking."

I smiled at him, "Good, now I'll be back before you know it."

I turned and hopped off, following the trail.

**(Alvin Sr.'s POV)**

I was starting to get tired of this bag. Thankfully the bag opened, unfortunately the same hand from last night grabbed me by my tail again and lifted me into the air.

I looked around to try and figure out where I was. I could see Uluru was not that far away. Which told me whoever had kidnapped me did not think things through that much.

My assailant's other hand wrapped around my body, pinning my arms to my sides. They lifted me and turned me to face them.

What an odd looking man. He was almost completely bald and had a small amount of hair just under his bottom lip. He wore black glasses and had a scowl on his face.

"Alright listen up, rat", he demanded with an American accent. Rat? That just wont stand. I used my sharp teeth to bite into the skin between his thumb and index finger. His hand opened and I got ready to hit the ground running, sadly he was still holding my tail with his other hand so I just hung there.

He slapped me with his open hand while I hung there, helpless. He hit me three times and I was starting to see stars.

"Are you going to listen to me now?", he asked and I had no choice but to nod.

"Good, here's what's going to happen. You're going to help me", I was starting to come back to my senses now.

"With what?", what was this guy's deal.

"Getting back at Alvin, that's what", Alvin? My son?

"What do you have against my son? And why would I help you?", I said in a defiant tone that caused his scowl to deepen, I guessed he had heard this same tone from my son at some point.

"He ruined me, twice! That's what I have against him. And you'll help me because if you do I'll only beat some sense into the little rat, but if you don't... well lets just say I don't know what I'll do to him, but it won't be pretty", his face twisted into a demented grin when he talked about hurting my son.

"I'll tell you what, how about you let me go now and leave me and my family alone and I won't scratch your eyes out?", I stared into his eyes, not giving him an inch.

He hit me again but this time with a closed fist. I swayed back and forth and my vision blurred from the pain.

"Don't make this any harder then it has to be", I finally stopped swaying and was looking directly into his eyes again.

Not being one to back down no matter what, I decided to continue being obstinate, "Lets be honest here. If my son bested you twice what makes you think I won't be able to do it better then him?"

I felt his fist connected with me again and the edges of my vision started to go black but I didn't stop glaring at him, though it's hard to look imposing when you're only about ten inches tall and are being held upside down by your tail.

"That's fine,go and and try to fight me, I guess you just won't be around to see me get back at him", he dropped me and I tried to land on my feet but I was in too pain and collided with the ground, hard. It was getting harder to see as more black encroached on my vision.

I felt his shoe press down on me, while he slowly applied more pressure to my small body. I felt one of my ribs brake and let out a scream. He responded to my pain by laughing and pressing down harder.

So this is how I go? I always thought I would die old and surrounded by people who loved me. Not in the dirt by some slime ball with a grudge against my son.

"Get off of him!", I heard a familiar voice call out and the next thing I knew the man was sent flying back by a powerful kick to his chest.

My pain eased once his foot was off of me. I was lifted into the air, gently this time, and held close by a pair of furry paws.

"Are you alright, Alvin?", Chelsea asked me as she hopped away from the man as fast as she could, though my guess was he wouldn't be getting up for quite a while.

"I'll be fine", my voice came out in a much weaker tone then I had intended.

**(Alvin Jr's POV)**

I paced back and forth while I waited for Chelsea to get back, "Where could he be?", I cried out.

"Calm down, Alvin", Brittany tried to comfort me by placing her paw on my shoulder.

"How can I be calm?", I had no idea what happened to my dad and she wants me to be calm?

"Freaking out isn't going to help anything", she had a point, but still.

"It will be alright, sweetie. Chelsea will find him", Alyson soothed me.

I sat down for the first time since I had woken up. They were right Chelsea would bring him back to me. I just need to calm down.

I used my finger to trace in the dirt while we waited. My dad going missing reminded me how much I missed my family Theodore, Dave, the girls and even Simon.

Brittany sat in front of me and began to draw with me. For a while we just drew random shapes together. This moment would be nice if I wasn't so stressed.

I heard the familiar sound of Chelsea's hops against the ground and turned to face the sound.

The kangaroo was moving very fast and had her paws held against her chest holding something small and brown. Dad?

I ran to meet her with Brittany right on my tail, "Is he alright?" I was frantic again.

Chelsea came to a stop and gently put him down in front us. He was a mess, he was barely moving and his eyes were barely open, "You should see the other guy...", he groaned making me thing that talking was causing him pain.

"What happened?", I looked between him and Chelsea waiting for an answer.

"When I found him he was being attacked by some man, but I took care of that with a kick to the chest", I said thank you to her for saving my dad and turned back to him.

"Who did this to you?", the Fetchers had come over and were standing over us.

"I didn't catch his name but he was American. He was mostly bald and had a silly little goatee. He also wore glasses. Now, I'm going to take a nap", as my dad fell asleep Brittany and I got the same look on our faces and turned to each other.

We spoke in unison, "Ian..."


	19. Chapter 19

**(Dave's POV)**

"Well It took us a little longer than expected but we're here", the kids all cheered as I stopped the small moterhome we had rented once we got to Melbourne.

We all piled out and took a moment to take in the site of the giant rock formation in front of us. Uluru, was that what it was called? This would be a lot of fun if we weren't searching for Alvin and Brittany.

I was worried about the two of them, but not as much once I found out they were with responsible people. And finding out that Alvin had found his father that was big surprise, I wonder what he's like? Well there will be time for that later but first we have to find them.

"Alright guys lets start searching", all four of them gave me a nod and scurried off in pairs to began searching.

I couldn't help but smile seeing Simon and Jeanette working together, I was starting to get worried that they would never make up.

"Don't go too far you guys", I called out and began to search the area around me.

I found the remnants of a campfire, but it looked at least a few days old.

Maybe the others were having better luck then I was because our trail ends here if we don't find them or some clue about where they are.

**(Jeanette's POV)**

Simon and I had begun to search on the northern side of Uluru. I always wanted to see this place I just wish it was under different circumstances.

"Do you see anything, Jeanette?", Simon asked while he was surveying the area around us. I hadn't seen anything yet, though I don't know what exactly we're looking for, other then Alvin and Brittany themselves.

"Nothing yet, but what should I be looking for?", Simon stopped walking and let out a small chuckle. "To be honest I'm surprised we weren't greeted by a large A spray-painted onto the side of Uluru."

I couldn't help but picture that in my head, which made me laugh. After sharing a short laugh we got back to looking for any sign of them.

I was glad that Simon and I were on better terms again, I didn't like being mad at him but he needed to stop being so pig headed about this whole thing.

I still wonder if what I said to him is what changed his mind. He hadn't said what changed his mind about the whole thing, he just told me that all he wanted to do now was find them and bring them home.

I missed Brittany, with her gone it felt like Eleanor and I were lost in the wilderness without a guide. I was going to have to have a talk with her about letting Alvin talk her into things. And after that I was going to have to have talk with Alvin about running off with my sister without saying anything.

Simon and I continued to search but it was starting to feel like there was nothing here that could help us find them.

**(Eleanor's POV)**

I hope everyone else was having better luck because all Theodore and I were see was some wonderful landscape.

"Where could they be?", Theodore had been more like himself ever since our talk in Wonthaggi, which made me happy.

"I don't know, Theo. But we'll find them", it was a lot more easy to stay optimistic, knowing that Brittany was with Alvin and that neither of them were alone.

I had seen some wildlife around us but nothing worth noting, that is until I saw a kangaroo. I don't know why but I've always liked kangaroos, "Hello mister kangaroo!", I waved at it, but what happened next surprised me and Theodore.

The kangaroo stopped hopping and turned towards us. He waved his paw, "Hello miss chipmunk", he responded in a deep Australian accent.

Theodore and I looked at each other. The only other talking animal I'd ever seen was that talking gopher that helped us get away from Ian, so I thought it was only rodents that had that ability.

"You can talk?", I asked in a shocked tone. He hopped over to us and smiled, "Well you can, so what made you think I couldn't?" A talking kangaroo, this trip kept getting more and more odd.

"You're right, its just I've never met a talking kangaroo before." He extended his paw to Theodore and I, "Hello, the name's Ricko." Theodore and I shook his paw, "It's nice to meet you, Ricko. My name is Eleanor and this is my friend, Theodore", I gestured to each of us while I spoke.

"Do you live around here?", I asked, wanting to know more about him.

He shook his head, "No I'm just visiting some friends, how about yourselves?"

I let out a sigh when I remembered why we were here, "We're looking for two chipmunks who ran off, one of which is my sister."

Ricko raised an eyebrow, "Runaways huh? What were their names?"

"My sisters name is Brittany and the other one were looking for is named...", "Alvin?", Ricko finished my sentence for me. "That's right, how did you know?", both Theodore and I looked at him expectantly and waited for an answer.

He smiled again, "I know because, I was showing them around Uluru about three days ago."

Theodore and I both smiled, "You were? Are they still here?"

He frowned and shook his head, "Sorry, they left in a hurry two days ago."

"Simon,Jeanette,Theodore,Eleanor come back guys!", we heard Dave's voice come from not to far away.

"Who was that?", Ricko asked, looking in the direction that Dave's voice came from.

"It's our adoptive father", Theodore answered him, "We better get back, would you mind coming with us and telling us about what happened?", Theodore asked in a tone that was so sweet I bet even Ian would have done what he asked.

"Not a problem", we got down on all fours and began to run back to Dave with Ricko hopping in tow.

"Hey, there you two are. And you found a friend. Hey there little guy", Dave looked over Ricko who stood up at his full height.

"I'm not that little", the look on Dave's face when he heard Ricko talk was priceless. But quickly faded and Dave smiled and shrugged, "Why am I surprised by anything anymore?"

Simon and Jeanette ran over to us and looked over Ricko with a question in their eyes.

I decided to introduce everyone to each other. "Dave,Simon, Jeanette this is Ricko. Ricko, this is Jeanette, Dave and Simon."

They all exchanged hellos and everyone was quickly over the fact that we were talking to a kangaroo.

"Tell them what you told us, please", I asked Ricko to tell everyone that he had seen Alvin and Brittany.

After a quick explanation, Ricko was back to telling us that we had missed them by two days.

"Darn it! Now we have no idea where they're headed to next!", Dave exclaimed with a frustrated sigh.

"I do", Ricko informed us.

"Really where?", Dave asked eagerly.

"They were heading up to the Mataranka hot springs, that is after a quick stop in Alice Springs to get Alvin treated."

We all felt the same spark run up our spines. Dave asked what we were all thinking, "Treated? For what?"

"Nothing much, just broken rib though I would bet it was just cracked. His son was very worried about him though."

"Son?", Dave asked and then I remembered that the man at the restaurant had said that Alvin's dad was named Alvin too. "Which Alvin was hurt?", I asked.

"Senior, he was attacked by some American fellow but my sister saved him. I found all this out when I came to back to check on them and they were all packed and ready to go. I'd guess they got to the hot springs sometime yesterday morning. The Fetchers thought perhaps they should head home because of Alvin's injures but he was having none of that."

"Do you know how to get to the hot springs?", Dave asked the red kangaroo.

He nodded, "I do but I can't give you directions I don't really navigate that way, I go by landmarks. But that's alright because I was wanting to head up that way anyway and this way we could kill two birds with one stone. That is if you don't mind taking me with you?"

"We don't have a choice, you're our only lead and we have more then enough room so I don't see a problem with it", Dave now had a renewed determination to his voice

"I'm ready to leave whenever you are", Ricko looked like he was excited to join in our adventure.

"The sooner the better, right?", Simon even had a more upbeat tone because of our new lead.

"What are still doing standing here?", Theodore asked.

"Let's go!", Dave called out and our group of six made our way to our moterhome and we call climbed in.

Ricko found the back a little cramped but after some moving around he found a comfy spot just behind the two front seats with his long tail stretching down the small hallway.

We four chipmunks all shared the front passenger seat.

Dave started the vehicle and began to drive.

As we drove I felt very excited, because soon I would see Brittany again.


	20. Chapter 20

**(Brittany's POV)**

I looked at the rainforest around me and took in its beauty. I could hear birds and other wild life though out the forest. I let out a sigh, it's not that I'm not having a good time being on vacation with Alvin and the others but I can't help but feel empty in a way.

It's been nearly three weeks since I saw my sisters and I can't help but worry about them. I wonder how mad they are at me?

It was a lazy dad today. Most of the group just lazied about, either in the hot springs or on the rocks near the edge. In fact I'm almost sure that Chelsea hadn't moved for over an hour. Sr. was laying near her, he was feeling better since he had some pain medication, but he was still very sore from his run in with Ian. The Fetchers had gone on quite a few walks through the forest and were by far the most active of our group.

Alvin and I had spent most of the time that we've been here to swim but I just didn't have the heart for that right now. He had tried to convince me but gave up when I told him I had a lot on my mind, though he never left my sight and kept looking back at me when he thought I wasn't looking.

I laid back against the warm rock I was sitting on, it felt good against my body and helped me think. I wonder what Eleanor and Jeanette were doing right now. Probably deciding how best to skin Alvin for taking me away, I would have to keep them from doing that once we got back..Are we going back? I know I want to, but what about Alvin? This is the happiest I've seen him in a long time. What will I do if he decides to stay? I can't abandon my sisters but I can't just leave Alvin either.

I need to go for a walk.

Without saying a word I hopped off the rock I was on and made my way into the forest. The rainforest was a lot different then the forests back home. For starters it was lot louder and more active.

After walking for a few minutes of walking I came to the rocky edge of a cliff that was overlooking the lagoon that was next to the springs. I looked down and saw that neither Chelsea or Sr. had moved since I left. Alvin on the other hand was no where to bee seen. I realized for the first time just how high up I was. If I had to guess I would say I was up about 25 meters***(See A/N at the bottom for reference to feet)**

Where was Alvin though? I scanned the hot springs and lagoon for Alvin but couldn't find him.

"Hey Britt, whats up?"

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV)**

Brittany nearly jumped out of her fur at the sound of my voice from behind her.

She turned to face me,"Alvin! Don't startle me like that", she was frowning but not from being startled. I could tell earlier that something was wrong but I still don't know what it is.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you", I looked over the cliff where Brittany had led us to. It put the whole forest into prospective from here. I wish I could say I was looking at something other then Brittany for more then a few seconds but I don't like lying.

"Did you follow me?", she was still frowning which made me feel sad.

"Ya, with the way you just ran off like that I was worried", I told her the truth.

She nodded at me and turned around so she was looking over the lagoon again.

I've been trying to figure out how to ask her what wrong all day but I just can't think of the right way to word it. I decided to make small talk while I tried to think about it, "Aren't you scarred, being up this high?"

Brittany suddenly stepped back as if she had just realized just how high we were. She turned to me,. "Thanks for reminding me", she said in a sarcastic tone and I couldn't help but smile.

I still had no idea how to word it so I decided to do what I do best, wing it, "Brittany, you know you can talk to me about anything right?"

She nodded, "I know."

She's going to make this hard isn't she? "Is there anything you want to talk about?"

She shrugged, "I don't know..."

The sun was beginning to set and the orange light made her even more beautiful, "Something is bothering you. Please tell me so I can help you."

She looked at the ground and nervously rubbed her arm with her paw, "It's my sisters, I miss them."

Now there was something I could relate with, "I know how you feel, I miss everyone we left back in L.A."

"Alvin...", she paused for a few seconds before looking me in the eyes. "Alvin are we going to go back to them?"

Her question took me off guard, I hadn't put a lot of thought into that. A few weeks ago my answer would have been an immediate yes of course, but now... I've bonded with my dad so much and Chelsea and the Fetchers as well.

Brittany looked at me, expecting an answer. One I didn't have. Did I want to go home? I missed everyone, but did they miss me? I'm pretty sure Simon still hated me and Theodore still seemed mad at me. And as for the chipettes I would be willing to bet they were mad at me for taking their sister away.

"I'm not sure, Brittany...", I was being honest.

She stepped closer, "Alvin... I feel so alone right now. Even though you're here with me and our new friends are close I still feel... lonely."

Hearing that nearly broke my heart. I wanted to just grab her and never let go but I don't think now is the right time for that.

She missed her sisters so much and who was I to keep her from them. If I do love her like I said I did then I should be willing to make sacrifices for her happiness. I think I just made up my mind, "Brittany once our vacation is over, we're going to get my dad to come with us to talk to Dave and the others and get this all sorted out. And if they don't like it that too back because I'm here to stay as long as at least one person wants me around."

Her frown deepened and she began to cry, "Alvin..."

I ran to her and held her close, "Brittany what I'm saying is that... You've done so much for me and for that I'll be there for you for as long as you want me to be." I love you Brittany! Why can't I say those words to her?

Her crying softened as the last light of the sun went over the horizon and the stars filled the sky. We sat and I held her as the warm night air set in. This moment was almost perfect. The only thing that could make it better was if she knew how I felt about her.

"AJ! Brittany! Where are you two?", we heard my dads voice come from down by the lagoon.

I sighed and let go of Brittany so I could walk over to the edge and call to him, "We're up here Dad!"

I saw him look for the source of my voice until Chelsea pointed me out to him. "Come down here its time to eat!", he called up to me.

I looked down and took in the sight from up here. We're going to have to come back up here when there's more day light left.

"Come on Britt we better get going." She had stopped crying and her smile had even returned.

She nodded, "Let's go."

I walked over to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulders to keep her warm while we walked back down to the springs.

**(Eleanor's POV) **

We had been driving for most of yesterday and today and thanks to a flat tire we which delayed us we wouldn't be reaching the springs until some time tomorrow if we were lucky. But from the way Ricko had described it, we wouldn't get there until the morning after next.

As for right now we were at a campsite we had found just after nightfall and we had all went to sleep as soon as possible so we could get up early, well everyone but me.

Jeanette, Simon, Theodore and I were all together on the bed the sat above the driver and passenger seats while Ricko was passed out on the foldout bed that in the day time served as the kitchen table, and Dave was in the small bedroom in the back.

I couldn't fall asleep because of a mix of excitement and disappointment. The sounds of everyone snoring was oddly relaxing but not enough to help me fall asleep. I was huddled next to Jeanette while Simon and Theodore slept next to each other a few inches from us.

I rolled over and looked at Theodore who was sleeping peacefully. I smiled, knowing that he had almost completely returned to his usual self.

I became alarmed when he started to move his head back and forth rapidly and began to wine. He was having a nightmare, I had come to know how to spot them from living with him. Any moment now he would wake up and go sleep in Dave's bed.

His eyes shot open and he was breathing very heavily. What happened next surprised me though, instead of going to Dave, Theodore stood up and walked over to me.

"Eleanor, are you awake?", he whispered, being careful not to wake anyone else up.

"I am", I whispered back softly.

"Can I talk to you?", he asked in a soft tone.

I nodded and carefully stood up, making sure not to wake up Jeanette. We walked over to the other side of the bed so we could talk without disturbing her or Simon.

We sat next to each other and I waited for him to speak but he didn't. So I took the lead, "Whats wrong Theodore?"

"I had a nightmare."

"About what?", I put my paw on his shoulder to comfort him.

"That we never found Alvin and Brittany. And we never got our family back together."

Even in the dark I could see Theodore was frowning, "Don't worry Theodore we'll find them soon and then we can all go home."

"But what if we find them and Alvin doesn't want to come home because of how Simon and I acted?", he looked into my eyes now.

I scooted closer to him so I could wrap my arm around his shoulders to comfort him, "That's not like Alvin and once you all talk everything out I'm sure you'll find that none of you are holding a grudge."

He hugged me, "Thank you Eleanor. You've been here for me and you've helped me understand how to deal with my emotions. That... no, you mean so much to me Ellie."

I blushed and hugged him back, "You mean a lot to me too Theodore."

He pulled his head away from my chest and looked into my eyes again, "Eleanor... I", he paused and seemed to be thinking about what to say next.

I watched and waited for him to speak, hoping he would say what I thought he was going to say.

"Eleanor I...", he froze again and I watched him. Suddenly without warning he pressed his lips to mine and kissed me with a passion I'd never seen from him before. I kissed him back, naturally.

After a few minutes he pulled away from me, "Eleanor, I love you. I always have from when I first saw you in the hallway at school", he spoke with a new found confidence that made it hard to not just tackle him and keep kissing him right then and there and never stop.

I kissed him again and pulled away quickly, "Theodore, I've loved you ever since I first heard you on the radio. The first time I heard you I knew I had to find you", I let my heart and soul pour out.

Theodore yawned and so did I but we didn't stop looking into each others eyes. After another kiss Theodore spoke up, "I think we should get some sleep...", he said with a tone that reflected how disappointed I was. But he was right, this would have to wait until tomorrow.

Without taking our arms off of each other we laid down and he quickly fell asleep in my arms. Watching him sleep made me finally sleepy and in no time I was fast asleep.

**A/N: 25 Meters (m) = 82.02 Feet (ft.) For our American readers. We really need to switch over to the Metric system, it makes so much more sense.**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Today we have a special treat for you. This chapter is written by Hillsy21 and me, I did Simon's part and Hillsy21 did Brittany's. Also the song in this chapter was made by Hillsy21 and it's awesome. **

**(Simon's POV)**

I couldn't help but smile seeing Theodore and Eleanor holding each other's paws. Jeanette and I had decided that we would sit at the table in the back so they could have to the front seat all to themselves.

It had been quite a surprise when we woke up and found them in each other's arms. I don't know what happened after I fell asleep last night but my guess is that they had a good time because neither one had stopped smiling.

I hopped up onto the table so I could see out the window better. The landscape was quite amazing but it's not what I want to be looking at right now. Seeing Theodore and Eleanor together had made me realize that I had to tell Jeanette how I felt.

I looked around the cabin of the moterhome, first my eyes fell on Ricko, who was in the same spot he always was when we were driving, sitting behind the two front seats with his tail running down the small hallway and long legs stretched out behind the front seats.

I watched him for a minute or two while he watched the road and told Dave when we needed to adjust our coarse at all.

Next I looked at Jeanette, who smiled at me. Her smile could light up even the darkest night. Maybe that's what I should tell her? No, too cheesy, even if it was true. I smiled back at her and she hopped up onto the table with me.

My heart began to race the way it always did when she was around me.

"What are you thinking about?", she asked while making her way across the table. You, "Just about how close we are to finding them finally."

She nodded and got closer to me when Dave hit a bump in the road causing her to lose her balance and start to fall forward. I dashed to her and caught her before she hit the table, "Are you alright?"

She nodded at me, "Thank you, Simon." I smiled at her, "Any time."

I let my hands linger for just a few moments longer then they needed too before I let her go.

"Simon, I want to ask you something", she looked out the window while she spoke to me.

I would tell her anything she wanted to know. "Go ahead."

She turned and stared into my eyes with her gorgeous violet ones, "What made you change your mind about Alvin?"

I had a feeling she was going to ask that, she had seemed like she had wanted to know that ever since I talked things out with her in Wonthaggi. I paused and thought about it. Should I tell her the truth? What would be the point of lying but to hold off the inevitable moment when I told her how I felt and she either returned my feelings or rejected me.

Why was this so scary to me? I'm Simon Seville, I've dealt with Ian before, ran from dogs and shown no fear. I've stood on a stage and sung my heart out to millions of fans, watching across the whole world. And yet here I stand with an audience of one and I can't say anything?

She looked at me expectantly. I took a breath and opened my mouth the speak but then closed it again. Come on Simon, your little brother did it why can't you? But then again maybe Eleanor made the first move. No I'm getting distracted from the point at hand.

I took a deep breath, now or never, "Well to put it simply... It was... well you, Jeanette. You changed my mind, you reminded that you don't need to share blood with someone to love them, to want to protect them, to want to be with them all the time."

"To be with them all the time? I don't remember saying that", I couldn't gage what she was feeling by looking at her face which meant I was going into this blind and I hated doing things without any idea about what will happen.

"I know you didn't but I'm saying it now...", I watched her while the look on her face changed from confused to happy to confused again.

"Simon what are you saying?", she asked me and I could swear my heart skipped a beat now that it was time to say the words.

"What I'm saying Jeanette is...", I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and to try and get my paws to stop shaking. "Jeanette what I'm saying is that, I want to be with you always. I want to hold you and never let you go. I want to be there to calm you when you cry, to stand between you and anything that might threaten you. I would fight a dog or anything else to protect you. And as long as I know you're happy I will be too." I turned away not wanting to see her reaction to my next words, "Jeanette... I love you!"

And it was at that moment I felt her collide with me from behind and tackle me to the table. I turned over to look into her eyes as she lay on top of me. She was smiling, that was a good sign. "Oh Simon!", she pressed her lips to mine and I felt my heart stop for at least three seconds. I kissed her back.

It wasn't until she pulled away from me I noticed we had gathered an audience. Ricko, Theodore and Eleanor were all looking at us smiling and even Dave was glancing at us in the rear-view mirror.

Suddenly I felt my cheeks grow warm and being so close to Jeanette I could see she was blushing under her fur.

Jeanette climbed off my and stood up. I stood up next to her. Theodore gave us a thumbs up and Eleanor just smiled. Ricko and Dave went back to paying attention to the road.

I grabbed her paw and we both hopped off of the table and took our seat.

Jeanette leaned her head onto my shoulder and whispered to me, "Simon, I love you too."

And it was then I knew, once we found Alvin and he answered some questions that we would have our family back and it would be closer then ever.

**(Brittany's POV)**

"Come on! It's not that scary!" he cried, looking ridiculously desperate. I just gazed at him in doubt, not wanting to hurt his feelings, but at the same time, not wanting to get my neck broken. I tore my eyes away from him to look at the foreboding rise over me. I'm so scared of heights and he knows that as well as everyone else. So, why was he forcing me to do something he knew I couldn't handle?

"Brittany...I know your scared, but..." Alvin began again, "But you can't avoid your fears forever...You need to face them sometime, no matter how frightful they are..." He slowly came up to me. I tried to back away, but I was stopped when he quickly took my paws in his, still looking determined as ever. His hazel eyes had that mischievous glint in them, as if scheming up a plan. But when he spoke, his voice was both soothing and incredibly calm. I started to get a bit giddy in the stomach at his gentle touch...but, nether the less, I was _not_ going to jump.

"Come on, Britt," He repeated, "Once you do, then you won't have to again if you still don't like it...Think of it as your leap of faith...If you can do this, you can do anything you like...It will be like letting go of the past and being prepared for the future...Please?" He gently traced the perimeter of my palms with his thumbs and sent a shiver down my spine.

"Alvin, how could I really? You know that I'm too scared of heights!" I squealed, starting to tremble, but not because of the jumping thing. Alvin wasn't going to let his guard down anytime soon, and was still gazing at me intently. There was something about him that started to get to me, as if he was casting a spell that I couldn't really notice.

"Would it help if I jumped with you? Just trust me. Please, you have to try it just this one time...Please?" he asked, still looking at me directly in the eyes. He noticed that a part of my fringe had fallen out of place and took the liberty to slide it back behind my ear. Suddenly, before I knew what I was doing, I had nodded my head vigorously and he started to pull me forward. What the hell was wrong with me? "Just relax and follow me," Alvin soothed.

Before I knew it, a voice in my head that sounded exactly like Alvin's started to sing along with an acoustic guitar. It was one of those 'feel-good', country-type songs that Aussies often sing.

**Back into the wilderness,**

**No limits, just you and me.**

**There's no work, only games.**

**Cause you and I, we're fully free.**

**There's no other place to stay,**

**No other place to roam:**

**Just as long as I'm with you,**

**I know that I'm at home**

Alvin confidently led me around the perimeter of the naturally made pool, tugging me forward if I hesitated. I stumbled behind him, half regretting/half being excited about the situation I had managed to get myself in. Senior was gliding along the top of the water in a slow backstroke, humming away to himself and having a grand old time. Chelsea looked like she had fallen asleep sunbaking in the sunlight through the trees. Everyone was just chillin' away as Alvin led me on. The song still playing away in my head...

**And I know how it feels,**

**To be kept in the dark.**

**I know how love works:**

**Always lookin' for the spark.**

**And I try to stay strong for you;**

**Even though I'm in pain.**

**What's your old lover's loss:**

**Is purely my own gain.**

**Now I realise,**

**There's so much more about you.**

**You're so different;**

**I'm at a loss of what to do.**

**You're so incredible.**

**With the way you make me feel.**

**It gets so hard;**

**To realise that this is real.**

**Just like a tree frog,**

**Who laughs instead of croaks.**

**This is all a set of Different, Different- Strokes-strokes-strokes.**

**Different Strokes.**

By the time the chorus had ended, the two of us were at the top of the 25 metre ridge, looking at the frightening descent below us. I felt more frightened than ever and immediately began backing away, but Alvin still had his firm grip on my arm. I looked at him pleadingly, tears starting to fill my eyes. The song had changed from his voice to my own...

**What did you think of me,**

**Every time I passed by?**

**You let me think I had a chance,**

**Then let me down, left me to cry.**

**At least now I'm truly sure,**

**About just how you feel.**

**And now I love you even more,**

**This is too good to be real.**

"Wait! No, I've changed my mind! Please just let me go back down now!" I squealed, struggling to get out of his clutches.

"Brittany," Alvin re-began, looking over at me with reassurance. "You can cry all you want, but it's too late to turn back now...I've never done this before and I'm nervous too, but I want to be able to let go of my past...All I want is to look forward to the future with my family back together..."

"Am I a part of that family Al?" I asked hopefully with a small voice. Alvin smiled and turned to scan the beautiful scene around us. He looked lost for a moment in his own secret world. I just waited for an answer.

"Oh, don't you worry. You're more a part of it than you think..."

**And I know how the story goes,**

**You're Romeo, I'm Juliet.**

**I know you're life story,**

**It isn't really hard to get.**

**I'm willing and ready to go,**

**Whenever you are.**

**Bring along the little things,**

**And don't forget the guitar.**

Alvin looked serious now as he dragged me up to the edge. Panic was now my majorly dominant emotion as my heart was beating at 100 miles per hour. It was all I could do to not look down into the water below...I squeezed Alvin's hand by accident, but to my surprise he squeezed back. He had actually looked down and wasn't as confident as he was before. His serious demeanour was instantly gone and was replaced by fear as he closed his eyes...

Taking a deep breath, Alvin started to back me away from the edge. We stopped about one metre back, leaving me to watch him in wonder. What was going on? 20 seconds later though, his eyes shot open again and his determined mind-set had returned. He clutched on to my hand and yelled, "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Pulling me behind him, he ran the whole metre and we leaped into the air with a huge thrill. Everything seemed to go into slow motion as we fell, still hand in hand. I screamed bloody murder, as he blurted out, "CANNNONNNN BBBBAAAAALLLLLLLL!"...

**Now I realise,**

**There's so much more about you.**

**You're so different;**

**I'm at a loss of what to do.**

**You're so incredible.**

**With the way you make me feel.**

**It gets so hard;**

**To realise that this is real.**

**Just as long as I have you,**

**I don't need those other blokes.**

**This is all a set of Different, Different- Strokes-strokes-strokes.**

**Different Strokes.**

With 15 metres still to fall, I let go of him and began preparing myself for the landing, doing some pretty graceful twists and turns I might add. The thrill of free-fall was so intense...It was totally insane. The pressure of gravity was nearly crushing me from all sides and my heart had seemed to stop beating all together. I couldn't breathe, but I could scream out at the top of my lungs...My voice was going to conk out at any moment...

Alvin had put himself into a V-shape halfway down and only focused on the water below. What was only a few seconds in real life was an eternity for us. Putting us at ease, we finally hit the water and dove below. The water was as warm as ever and I felt the cold wind just disappeared off me… My mind was dazed...I quickly swam towards the surface as soon as I had landed and burst back out with a gasp. I had to get back to land and quick...

I reached the edge of the pool and plucked myself out, falling up against a rock nearby. I was feeling so glad to be alive. I didn't bother to move, I was so hyped up ...I was so out of breath that, I didn't notice until a minute later that Alvin hadn't surfaced yet!

"ALVIN! Alvin, where are you?" I cried, picking myself up and running back to the water, feeling petrified. Where was he? Chelsea suddenly burst awake and started to bounce around the pool in panic; trying to locate my best friend...Alvin Sr was quick to dive underneath the surface in search of his son...He would be more deeply worried than anyone else about this...He can't stay under forever...Alvin please be okay. I never got to tell you that-

_Splash!_ It was a worried father that heaved his son out of the water onto dry land. One look could tell that he was unconscious and not breathing. I ran over to him behind Chelsea and fell onto my knees at his side. We watched in worry as Senior slapped Alvin back into consciousness. Alvin opened one bleary eye, looking up at his dad before closing it again. But Senior wouldn't have that...

"Uh-uh, there is no way I'm losing you again!" He growled, going back to slapping his son's cheek, "Wake up AJ! Com'on, you can do better than that!" Eventually, Alvin regained consciousness once more, letting Senior pull him up into a sitting position and start to beat him on the back. Not too gracefully, Alvin ended up retching up all of the water he had swallowed. I pounced forward, accidently pushing Senior out of the way and grabbed Alvin's paw.

"Don't scare me like that!" I cried, letting out a huge sigh...I was so relieved that he was okay...I had no idea what my life would be like if he had actually been killed. Alvin merely looked at me, gave a small smile and stood up.

"It's good to see that you were worried..." he croaked before coughing out the last bit of water from his lungs. I threw myself into his arms. He slowly slid his arms around me in return with a weak hug...The song in my mind burst back to life with both our voices singing in perfect harmony...

**We don't need-anything more (Anything more!).**

**We'll just pack our bags-and walk right out the door.**

**We'll be okay- if we stick together.**

**Help each other out- and keep roaming forever.**

**We'll find a place- all of our own.**

**We'll find a place-were we can be alone.**

**A secret little place-that's one of a kind.**

**It might be far away-but, I doubt that we'll mind.**

"Of course I was worried! You're my best friend remember? I have no idea what I'd do without you...I'd feel so lost without you...I mean..." I slowly admitted to him. It now seemed pointless to keep it from him any longer. Life was too short and what just happened had proved that. That one scare had gotten to me...It was time to tell him. To begin with, my hug became even more intense, causing him to become a little stronger and held me just as strong. "Alvin, remember that night at Uluru when your dad told you about Virginia?"

"Yeah, he told me everything about my mu-...Wait a second...How you know about that? I thought you were asleep..." Alvin pulled away from the hug and looked at me in surprise. Senior quickly nudged Chelsea and the two of them scattered in opposite directions to give us privacy.

"I...I was nearly asleep when I heard you two start talking...I guess I wanted to know more about your family and listened in for the hell of it...I heard the whole thing."

"You heard everything? Even the part when I said...When I said..."

"Yeah...Yes I did...And you know what? I'm okay with that...I mean...I feel the same way about you..." I sighed. It felt so good to finally get it off my chest. The look of pure amazement just reached every inch of Alvin's face: it was just pure shock...He backed away for a second, unsure about how to react. I helped by cupping my hand on his cheek and turning his head back in my direction. "I hope this doesn't change anything between-"

"How could a little secret like that ruin just what I feel for you?" Alvin asked abruptly. That comment had snapped him back into reality. He threw my hand away and lurched forward, snaking his arms around my waist. I yelped as I was forced into his chest and instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck. He looked over behind my back and pushed me into the side of the rock I was laying at a few minutes ago. He had trapped me. His right hand slid up from my waist to cup my cheek. Still holding me in the tightest embrace, he closed the little distance left, pressing his lips against mine...

**Now I realise,**

**There's so much more about you.**

**You're so different;**

**I'm at a loss of what to do.**

**You're so incredible.**

**With the way you make me feel.**

**It gets so hard;**

**To realise that this is real.**

**Just as long as I have you,**

**I don't need those other blokes.**

**This is all a set of Different, Different- Strokes-strokes-strokes.**

**Different Strokes.**

_My first kiss, he's actually kissing me! _I didn't object to his move, after all; I had been waiting for it for so long. All I could focus on was his gentle touch as he caressed my back and my cheek. My heart was going absolutely hay-wire, a wonderful sensation filling it up by the second. I going dizzy, but it was a nice kind of dizzy. I had been cold before, but now I was nearly as warm as a fire in his arms...

The kiss started off nice and slow, just with his lips pressing gently against mine. I leaned my head over a little bit just to give him a little more room, which he took advantage of. It was slow, but intense, making my knees weaken. It was a good thing he was holding me so tight or we might've toppled over. Soon I started to kiss back and the kiss increased a bit in passion and...dare I say it...Yep, _Lust. _It felt that damn good.

Anyway, he started to add a bit of movement. Starting at my waist, his hands slowly moved from my back and into my hair, giving me a tingling feeling as his fingers did the work of running through. I wanted to play around too, but couldn't because he still had me trapped up against the rock. So I decided it was my turn to keep the fun going. Feeling a little devilish at the time, I decided to try something a little French...

He nearly gagged at my first attempt, but kept going on anyway as I continued to try. He remained surprised for a minute or two before deciding to try to start it himself. With it being more comfortable for him, I made a little more room for his tongue to slide in easier. It felt weird at first, but the way he used it soon made me regret thinking that. After a few intense minutes of coaxing and challenging, I accepted happily to let mine fight his in a wrestling match; Our bodies now moving in a rhythm that we seemed to instinctively know.

After what seemed like several sunlit days, we slowly began to break apart. Broken apart, but not letting me go, Alvin pressed his nose affectionately on mine and gazed deeply in my eyes as I did his. I had of course felt happy and giddy before, but the closeness and his smile in that moment made those emotions seem like nothing compared to him. This day would always be the day that I finally found true love and true happiness.

"I love you Brittany Miller."

"And I love you Alvin Seville."

**This is all a set of Different, Different-Strokes-strokes-strokes. Of Different Strokes….**


	22. Chapter 22

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV)**

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was Brittany cuddled up to me while we lay together under the open sky. The air was warm and the sound of running water made this moment only more perfect.

I watched Brittany sleep, she was so beautiful. She slowly opened her sky blue eyes and I was the first thing she saw, which made us both smile. "Good morning."

She nuzzled my chest, "Good morning."

We sat up and I looked around our little encampment by the hot springs and for the first time since we had been on this vacation Brittany and I were the first ones to wake up. Chelsea was asleep spread eagle on her back and my dad was asleep, curled up in a small ball, on top of her.

I took in a deep breath of the fresh forest air and then quickly winced as my lungs still hurt from almost drowning yesterday. Brittany noticed me wince and was quickly worried, "Alvin are you alright?"

I nodded, "Ya just still a little sore that's all." We looked into each other's eyes and I kissed her deeply. I pulled away and smiled, "You know, if I had known all it would take to bring us together was me nearly dieing I would have done it ages ago."

Brittany playfully hit my arm, "Don't you ever dare scare me like that again."

I shook my head, "Don't worry Britt I don't intend on nearly dieing ever again. That was not fun."

My dad rolled in his sleep and fell off of Chelsea. "Ow", he said griping his side as he got up, "That hurt."

"Morning, Dad", Brittany and I waved at him. He waved back with his paw that wasn't holding his hurt rib, "Morning you two. AJ how do you feel today?"

I smiled at him, "Well compared to yesterday, great."

He walked over to us, "You should take it easy for a few days."

I scoffed sarcastically, "You're one to talk, mister 'It just a rib and a few bruises, no reason to worry'. "

He rolled his eyes, "I would keep arguing with you but I know you won't back down and neither would I, so lets just call this one a draw."

I laughed and Brittany giggled, Dad couldn't help but join in as we all shared a good laugh.

"So what are we doing today?", I asked, eager to start the day with Brittany.

He shrugged, " I don't know. The only thing I have to say is no more high diving, got it you two?"

We both nodded, "No worries there, Dad."

I had a feeling that today was going to be a great day.

**(Theodore's POV)**

I sat in the front seat with my arm around Eleanor's shoulders while we drove. We had been driving since shortly after we woke up but from what Ricko said we should get there just around sunset, which wasn't far off.

I was filled with a mix of emotions, but the strongest was love. Everything had gotten clear when I told Eleanor how I felt. I knew that no matter what, soon I would have my family back on way or another.

Simon and Jeanette shared the front seat with us, they haddn't let go of each other's paws since they woke up. I wonder If Alvin and Brittany are together now? Well I guess I'll find out soon right?

Off in the distance I saw a forest come into view and smiled.

"There it is, we're almost there", Ricko said, pointing at the large green mass in front of us.

I pulled Eleanor closer to me as I felt a pit form in my stomach the closer we got.

"It will be alright Teddy, we're all in this together and as long as we remember that everything will work out great", she grabbed my free paw and squeezed it tight.

"Are you all ready for this? After almost three weeks of searching were finally going to find them", Dave said with a tone that mixed happiness and anxiousness.

We all nodded and Ricko chuckled, "Chelsea is going to be surprised to see me."

Time seemed to fly by as the sun began to set and the forest got closer and closer. I hope everything turns out alright.

When we reached the forest the sun had almost completely disappeared behind the horizon and the sky was a wonderful mix of orange, red and dark blue.

We all piled out of the R.V and quickly stretched out our legs.

"Come on, they should be at the hot springs", Ricko waved us to follow him and took the lead into the forest.

Walking through a rainforest at sunset, this would be really romantic if we weren't searching for Alvin and Brittany.

The sun finally set and every time we got a glimpse of the sky through the think canopy we could see it was filled with stars. I was really starting to hope we could stay here for a few days once we found them.

I could here the sound of running water and I felt the pit in my stomach grow.

"We're almost there", Ricko conformed what I had guessed.

I looked to Simon to see if he was feeling the same way I was but as usual he was stone faced and not showing any emotion.

Ricko had slowly gotten ahead of us and there was now about a ten foot gap between us and him.

I saw a clearing up ahead and when Ricko entered it he froze where he was standing. He quickly dashed out of sight and we heard him call out, "Mrs. Fetcher! Are you alright?"

The five of us didn't need any more of a signal to run as fast as we could to see what was wrong.

We four chipmunks dropped down onto all fours and quickly out paced Dave.

We came into the clearing and while the scenery was wonderful the sight before me was anything but calming.

Ricko was crouched down next to and older woman with white hair who was crying. Around the campsite there were obvious signs of a fight. Both of the tents that were set up had been knocked down and supplies were thrown all about.

What I saw next really put me on edge, on the ground was blood, not a lot but it was still blood. Who's was it?

"Alyson, what happened?", Ricko asked as gently as he could when Dave finally made it into the clearing.

Dave looked around and all the color drained from his face, "My god... what happened?"

The older woman manged to calm down enough to tell us what happened, "Just before sunset a man showed up with a small group of other men with him. Alvin Jr. and Brittany both insistently recognized him and identified him at Ian Hawke. He rambled about how he was going to get his revenge on Alvin for what he did to him and he tried to take Alvin Jr., Chelsea and Leonard tried to stop him. But there was nothing the could do they were out numbered. The Alvin's both tried to stop them by attacking Ian and they managed to give a few good scratches on his face but his men pulled them off of him."

She sobbed again before she continued. After Ricko comforting her she was able to continue, "They didn't just take them away they beat them. Ian told them to leave Alvin Jr. alone for now saying that he was his. Chelsea put up a fight but they knocked her out. They even beat Brittany."

Eleanor grabbed onto me and burred her face into my chest and began to cry. I looked to Simon and saw that Jeanette was holding onto him. Me and him shared a concerned look as we thought about what had happened here. We needed to find Alvin and the others, and we needed to do it fast.

"Once everyone was unable to fight any more they took them off into the forest and Ian turned to me and said the only reason they left me alone was because Ian was against hitting old women."

Dave pulled his cell phone out of his pocked and dialed 000. After quickly telling the police what was going on he hung up the phone and went to Mrs. Fetchers side to comfort her.

Ricko stood up. His face was contorted with a mix of anger and worry, "I don't know who this Ian is, but he had better hope the police find him before I do..."

**Two chapters in one day? That wont be happening again, well at least I don't think it wont. **


	23. Chapter 23

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV)**

My body shook from the mix of emotions I was feeling. I was angry at Ian for what he had done. I was scared because my dad had not woken up yet and was unresponsive. I was sad because, for once in my life I couldn't see a way out.

There was a loud thud as Chelsea slammed her powerful legs against the wall for what must have been the hundredth time.

I looked around our group, most of us were in sorry shape. I had been spared Ian's wraith for the most part, which worried me because it meant he was just waiting. First I looked at my dad, as I said already he was unconscious and I couldn't wake him. Leonard was tied to a chair and his face was covered in bruises. Looking at Chelsea you wouldn't guess she was hurt but she was. Her right shoulder had been dislocated and her tail and back were covered in cuts from when they dragged her through the forest.

Chelsea slammed her feet against the wall again and let out a scream when the wood barely bent under her assault. As I looked at Brittany I was filled with rage, Ian didn't even leave her alone. She didn't even try to fight but that didn't stop them. She was pressed against my chest and was sobbing. When she pulled her face away to look at me it broke my heart, there was dried blood around her nose and mouth. One of her eyes was swollen shut and she winced at any movement.

"How are we going to get out of here, Alvin?", her voice cracked when she spoke. I faked a smile, "Don't worry Britt, I'll get us out just you wait. I already saved you from Ian once and I'll do it again."

I could tell she couldn't fully believe what I was saying and who could blame her. We were in the middle of the rainforest in a shack that I think time forgot. We were completely at Ian's mercy, of which he had none. Before this I just thought Ian was a jerk but now I knew without a doubt he was evil.

I should have gone with Ian when he first came to our camp, then he would have left the others alone. But no, I was selfish and let them fight for me and in the end my selfishness is going to cost us all.

I shook my dad lightly to try and wake him but to no avail.

Chelsea kicked against the door again and this time she got a reaction from the other side. "Quit it already!", a gruff voice was heard from the other side, one of Ian's cronies no doubt.

Chelsea smiled knowing that she was annoying them at least, she continued her assault against the walls and door.

The door swung open and a tall dark skinned man walked in. Chelsea hopped at him, but froze when he pointed a handgun at her. "Look we don't want to kill all of you but if you keep it up, I'm going to be eating kangaroo tonight."

Chelsea backed away from the man and sat next to Brittany and I.

"That's better. Now quit hitting the walls, you're not going to get out of here and annoying us is not going to save you, are we clear?", he looked into Chelsea's eyes and waited for her response. She simply nodded. The man left the room and slammed the door behind him. I heard the lock slide shut.

I looked around the room looking for any way out. That was when a small window at were the wall met the ceiling caught my eye. I could climb the wall and get out, I had found my way out. But that was just it, it was _my _way out and no one else's. Brittany was in no condition to climb and my dad was still unconscious. And beyond that there was no way Leonard or Chelsea would fit though it.

I wanted to cry but I kept my composer for Brittany's sake.

Chelsea leaned down so that she could whisper to us, "Don't worry, Alyson is still out there. She will get help and we'll be out of here in no time."

I felt Brittany's shoulders perk up at the thought of rescue but I knew better. We were in the middle of a huge jungle and only the men, who were no doubt going to kill us, knew how to get to where we were. Now it was just a matter of time.

The light coming from the small window was beginning to fade as the sun set making this situation feel even more hopeless. I rubbed Brittany's back to try and comfort her. I could here the men talking in the other room but I couldn't make out what they were saying. All I knew was it couldn't be good.

Normally this would be the part were Theodore kept everyone's mood up and Simon would have came up with some brilliant plan to get us out of trouble. But I wasn't a genius and even my optimism had its limit.

The door swung open and Ian came into the small room with us, his cronies followed shortly. He looked directly at me and I couldn't help but smile seeing the red marks that covered his face from when my dad and I scratched him up.

The look in his eye worried me but at the same time it gave me an idea. Just because I wasn't going to make it out didn't mean everyone else had to share my fate. I let go of Brittany and stood up. I looked him in the eye and spoke, "Ian it's me you want so why don't you and I talk this out like the men we are and you let them go?"

Brittany gasped at my proposal, "Alvin, No!"

Ian laughed, "Come on Alvin, I already have you, you don't have any room to bargain."

Ian began to walk towards me and so I ran away to the other side of the room, there was no way he could catch me. He watched me and chuckled, "That's fine, I can wait for you Alvin." He walked over to Brittany, who tried to run. But she could barely manege a slow limp. "Leave her alone!", I called and ran at him when he lifted her by the tail. Chelsea stood but froze when one of the men pointed his gun at her.

Ian looked to me, "Alvin, you can come with me willingly and she will stay safe for now, or you can keep up this silly game of cat and mouse and she will go first."

Brittany struggled to try and scratch his hand but she was just too injured to do anything. There was no way I would let him hurt her again if I could help it. I walked over to him and held my paws up to him, "Alright Ian, you win."

"Alvin, don't!", Brittany yelled when Ian dropped her. Chelsea caught her with her good arm and held her close. "Let's go Alvin", Ian began to walk towards the door and I walked with him willingly. When I reached the door I turned back to Brittany and Chelsea, who were both looking at me with pleading eyes. I forced a smile to them, "Don't worry you guys, I'll sort this all out and be back before you know it", I lied.

"Alvin!", I heard Brittany call as the door was closed behind me.

This room was little better then the last, there was a table with some chairs around it and a couch. It was also lit up by a few lamps placed around the room.

I jumped up on the table so I could look Ian in the eyes, "Come on Ian you have me so just let them go, I know its me you want."

Ian laughed again, "Alvin you always were conceded. You think its just you I want? Once I'm done with you I'll take care of your little girlfriend. And then I'm going to track down those rats you call your brothers and deal with them. And last but not least I'll get the rest of the Chipettes as well."

My anger boiled over, "Don't you dare touch them!"

"And what are you going to do about it?", Ian taunted me.

"I'll kill you!", I jumped though the air at Ian only to be slapped to the ground by him. "Alvin, there's nothing you can do just accept it."

He lifted me by my tail and held me upside down, "I hope you're ready for this because I know I am."

He pulled his arm back and threw me against the wall as hard as he could. I bit my lip to keep from screaming out and giving him the satisfaction. I could taste the metallic taste of the blood coming from my lip and I knew this wasn't the last time I would be tasting it tonight.

**(Brittany's POV)**

I heard another thud against the wall and my sobs against Chelsea's chest increased. The light had completely left the room we were in and now our only source of light was the small strip of it coming from the door to the other room.

There was another thud and this time it was followed by the sound of Alvin's scream. Chelsea put her paw on my back and tried to comfort me but it didn't help. All I could think about was Alvin.


	24. Chapter 24

**(Simon's POV)**

Night was starting to set in and the police had been searching for about two hours but to no avail. Jeanette and Eleanor were both at their wits end with worry for Brittany and Alvin. Theodore and I were not much better but we kept our cool for them.

"This is taking too long!", Ricko yelled while he hopped around.

There was a loud squawking noise and Ricko looked up at the tree were it was coming from, "Sorry, I'm just worried about my sister and friends."

Did he just respond to that bird?

Ricko's eyes widened as if he got an idea, "Hey would you do me a favor? It will make all this commotion be over-with much faster so you can all go to sleep."

Why hadn't I thought about that? We could talk to the animals in our fores, sot why wouldn't Ricko be able to talk to the animals here.

The bird, which by my guess was a Cockatoo, squawked in response. Ricko nodded, "Good. Can you spread the word that we're looking for an older human man, a female kangaroo and three chipmunks?"

The bird let out another squawk and flew off into the jungle and quickly the night air was filled with the chatter of animals.

"That should speed things up!", Ricko was still anxious but he seemed to be happy that he had accomplished something.

I could feel Jeanette seem to loosen up a bit which made me relax. We were a few steps closer now.

There were a few officers that stayed with us just in case any of Ian's men came back for Mrs. Fetcher. They seemed to be very impressed with what Ricko had done.

The chatter continued to move farther away from us as time went on but it was never quiet.

It was starting to get late and as much as I hated to admit it we were all starting to get tired. I let out a yawn and Ricko took note, "Go ahead, I'll wake you guys when I hear anything."

I nodded and looked to Jeanette and was about to say something, but she was already asleep leaning on me. I gently moved myself to the ground, careful not to wake her, and laid down with her in my arms.

Theodore and Eleanor came over and laid next to us and we all huddled together.

The others fell asleep in no time but my mind was racing. Alvin, Brittany and the others were out there some where in Ian's filthy hands and there was nothing I could do about it. And If I knew Alvin, which I do, he was probably trying to play hero and was just making things worse by back talking Ian.

I tried to fight it for as long as I could but soon my eyelids were too heavy to keep open. As I drifted off to sleep my last thought was, "Alvin you better be alright."

**(Ricko's POV)**

I hopped back and forth waiting to hear back from the cockatoo. It had been a few hours and I could see the first glimpse of the sun over the horizon. Dave was pacing along side me while the police kept in radio contact with the officers that were searching the forest.

I looked at the four chipmunks I had come to call my friends over the past few days. Even though they were sleeping they were not relaxed in the least. I knew what they were going through, all I could think about was Chelsea.

The chatter coming from the forest had finally stopped which meant one of to things. Either they had not found anything and gave up or, they had found them and I would being hearing about it soon.

"This is killing me!", Dave let out a frustrated groan.

The morning light began to filter through the canopy and I felt myself get more anxious.

I could hear a bird's wings flapping and turned to the source of the noise. It was the cockatoo that I had talked to a few hours ago.

He landed on a branch just above me, "Well it took all night and I'm very tired, but we found where your friends are being held. Come with me, I'll lead you too them."

I hopped over to the chipmunks and shook them awake, "Come on, they found them lets go!"

Without even a moment of being groggy all four hopped to their feet and were ready to start moving.

"They found them lets go!", I called to Dave and the police as the cockatoo took of flying into the forest.

I bounded after him at my top speed and only the chipmunks could keep up with me. The humans fell behind but manege to stay close enough to see us and follow our trail.

"Pleas be safe...", Theodore said while running on all fours.

I looked back at him, "Don't worry, as long as Chelsea is with them they'll be alright."

We ran for close to thirty minuets before the small two room shack came into view. It sat in a small clearing and we stopped just inside of the tree line so that we would not bee seen. As much as I wanted to bust in right now I would probably be out maned and out gunned so I was forced to wait for the rest of our group.

I put my ears up and listened for any sound coming from the shack. I could here a man talking and what I could swear was sobbing of some kind but I couldn't be sure.

The police and Dave caught up and we looked over the shack together to try and figure a way in.

The police tried to insist that we wait for the rest of the cops to get there but there was no way I was waiting for that.

"Come on just follow my lead!", they looked at me but reluctantly agreed.

We snuck up to the door and peeked in a window.

What I saw worried me. There were five men. Three of them were sleeping on the couch that was in the small room while one stood in front of the door leading to the other room. The last, a bald man wearing black glasses, stood next to the table and had a very dark smile on his face. Looking around the room there were three doors, the one we were standing at on leading to the next room and one leading out back.

I heard the whimpering sound again and realized it was coming from the room with the men. I scanned the room again looking for the source and when my eyes found it I knew we couldn't wait a moment longer. There on the table, not moving, was a small brown form with a red Hawaiian shirt that was torn most of the way off of his body.

I backed away from the window and lined myself up with the door and the police looked at me and readied their guns. I looked back and the chipmunks and Dave who stood out sight and waited for us to make our move.

I looked back to the police and nodded.

I took a deep breath. I'm coming Chelsea.

I bounded ahead and full speed and with my last bounce brought my powerful legs up and kicked the door off of it's hinges.


	25. Chapter 25

**(Brittany's POV)**

There was a loud crash in the other room and we heard men shouting. "What's going on?", I asked no one in particular. Chelsea was standing and had put herself between Sr., who was just starting to wake up, me and the door.

We heard the door into our room unlock and begin to open. Chelsea crouched down and was ready to attack.

When the door opened I couldn't believe my eyes. Standing in the door way was Ricko, "Chelsea!" The two kangaroos hopped to each other and embraced each other, well as best Chelsea could with her hurt arm.

My heart swelled with relief but that feeling left as soon as it came once I remembered Alvin. I limped towards the door only to be stopped by the last two people I expected to see. Eleanor and Jeanette grabbed onto me and held me so tight I was sure my head was going to pop off.

"Brittany, you're alright!", Jeanette shouted as she held me. "We missed you!", Eleanor was the one doing most of the squeezing. My entire body ached but I wouldn't brake this hug for the world.

"He's in here Alyson", Ricko called to the other room and Alyson walked in. "You all took off so quickly I barely caught up... Leonard!", she ran to her husband and untied him from the chair, ungaging him in the proses. "Leonard are you alright?" He nodded, "Mostly, though I got quite a hit on the head."

Once my sisters let go of me I realized something, if they were here then that meant, "Is Dave with you?"

They nodded at me, both of them smiling. "Where is he?" Their smile fell. Jeanette responded first, "He's in the other room with... Alvin."

"AJ!", Sr. was now fully awake and ran into the other room, paying no mind to anyone else. I have to go see him. I tried to run but only succeeded in tripping and falling face first onto the floor. "Brittany!", my sisters called out in unison. I stood up and walked as fast as I could only to be stopped by their paws on my shoulders.

"What are you doing, I have to see him!", they both gave me a frown. "Brittany you need to be ready before you see him. He's in really bad shape", Jeanette wouldn't make eye contact with me. My heart broke in two. I pulled away from their grip and dropped down onto all fours and ran, I ignored the pain that consumed my body and manged to keep my self from tripping as long as I thought about Alvin.

When I reached the table that everyone was gathered around and tried to jump up onto it. I made it part of the way up and got my paw on the side of the table but I couldn't hold on and began to fall, only to have my paw grabbed by two others. Simon and Theodore pulled me up and as soon as I was safe on the table they went back to Alvin's side.

Just when I thought I couldn't hurt anymore I was proven wrong. Lying in the middle of the table was Alvin. He wasn't moving and I couldn't even tell if he was breathing. I ran to him and took my place next to Sr. I wanted to touch him but just looking at him I could tell that most of his bones were broken.

He forced open one of his eyes and looked at me, "Britt... you're alright... good", he hacked a laugh out, "Looks like... I showed Ian!" How can he be laughing at a time like this.

"Don't talk Alvin you need to relax", I begged him, but he continued, "He kept taunting me, telling me that once I bit it he would come get you. So I told myself that I wasn't aloud to die no matter what he did", he laughed again and looked at Simon, "And you always said that my stubbornness was a bad thing."

My eye that wasn't swollen shut began to well up with tears. He had went though this to protect me? He held on just to keep me safe? "Alvin you have to hold on! You can't die I don't know what I would do without you!", I looked into his open brown eye and he manged a smile. "Don't worry Britt... I'm not going anywhere."

"We need to get him medical attention, now!", Sr. looked around the room with a pleading look at the police and Dave.

Chelsea hopped into the room followed by Ricko and hopped over to us. She took one look at Alvin and her face twisted with anger, "Where is he? Where is that bastard!"

For the first time I looked around the room and realized that there were four men hand cuffed in the corner but Ian was no where to be found.

"He ran out the back door as soon as I kicked the door in. I was just about to go after him but I had to check on you first", Ricko informed Chelsea.

She looked at Alvin, "Don't you worry Alvin, we're going to find him and bring him back."

Ricko shook his head, "Chelsea you're in no condition to go on a chase through the forest right now."

Chelsea shot him a glare, "Ricko, I'm going to find him and I'm going to make him pay for what he did now you can come with me or you can stay here. But either way I'm going after him."

Ricko shrugged, "Well then why are we just standing here?"

Chelsea nodded and they hopped to the back door. She stopped and turned to us, "You guys should all get to a hospital. Don't worry about Ian, we'll get him."

I turned back to Alvin as Chelsea and Ricko disappeared out the back door. He was lying motionless again and his eyes were closed. My heart sank. I put my ear next to his face and listened for his breathing. My heart started beating again when I heard him take a very shallow and short breath.

Dave went to one of the police officers, "We need to get everyone to a doctor, now!"

The man nodded, "We have an air transport in bound that will take you all to Darwin for treatment."

Dave went back to Alvin's side with the rest of us and Jeanette and Eleanor jumped onto the table and stood behind me. They wrapped their arms around me for comfort.

**(Chelsea's POV)**

Ricko and I bounded at our top speed. Even though Ian had gotten a head start on us we were in luck because first, he was stupid and left and obvious trail of broken branches in his wake. And second, the animals were more then happy to point us in his direction.

"You can't run forever, Ian!", I called out trying to discourage him.

The search lasted for about an hour until we lost the trail, which meant either he had gotten smart and was moving more carefully or the more likely option, he was hiding like a cowered.

Ricko and I slowed down and began to search around for any sign of him.

I heard the sound of something moving and Ricko and I both looked in the direction of the noise, and sure enough it was Ian and he was running again.

We bounded after him and were quickly gaining on him, "We've got you now, slimeball."

As we got closer Ian stopped and grabbed a branch from one the trees near him. He planed on fighting us... good. I looked to Ricko who gave me a wink and a nod which meant we were on the same page on how to handle this.

We bounded towards him and at the last second separated and went to either side of him. He turned to face Ricko first and took a swing at him, Ricko ducked under it and I took my shot. I kicked Ian in the back and sent him flying forward but he managed to keep his balance.

Ricko gave me another wink while Ian was still regaining his stance. I nodded to him.

Before Ian had a chance to fully recover Ricko and I bounced at him at the same time and both kicked him, me from the back and Ricko from the front. Ian let out a scream and dropped down to one knee. He tried to stand up and take another swing at us but I gave him a swift kick in the back, which knocked him to the ground.

Partly wanting to make sure he didn't get away and mostly wanting to make him pay for what he did, I bounced into the air and came down on his right leg and felt it brake under me. Ricko winced at the scream Ian let out. I did feel a little bad for him until I remembered how Alvin had looked on the table and thought he deserved far worse then a broken leg.

"So what are you going to do with me now?", he tried to keep his face as calm as he could be he looked more like a scared puppy then a man right now.

"Simple we're going to take you back to the police so you can pay for your crimes", Ricko smiled while he spoke, "There's just one problem see, we can't carry you. Her shoulder's hurt and well my back is pretty sore from all this chasing so it looks like we're going to have to drag you back and it's quite a ways."

I couldn't help but smile knowing that his punishment wasn't over yet.

**(Dave's POV) **

I sat in the waiting room of the veterinary office with Simon,Theodore,Jeanette and Eleanor. Alvin, Alvin Sr. and Brittany were still being treated for their injures. The Fetchers were at the hospital right now and Mr. Fetcher was being treated for his head injuries.

What a month this had been. First Alvin was revealed to not be Simon and Theodore's blood brother. Next he and Brittany ran off and we had to chase them to Australia. And once we got here we went on a wild chase across most of the continent, even meeting a talking kangaroo or two along the way. And to top it all off Ian shows up and attacks my kids?

I knew Brittany and the older Alvin would be alright but our Alvin had been barely alive when we found him and he had just been getting worse. It seemed the only thing that had kept him alive was his love for Brittany. Oh ya and there's that, all of The Chipmunks and The Chipetts were now involved with each other.

I scooted in my chair so that my head was resting against the back. Once we all got home I was going to have to find a way to give the chipetts there own room, because there was no way I'm going to have six chipmunks, who are all dating staying in the same room. But I don't have enough room in my condo for that. Well I've been thinking about moving us into a larger house so no time like the present right?

The door into the back of the clinic opened and one of the doctors came walking out holding Brittany in her hands. Brittany had a bandage covering her right eye and a few other bandages placed around her body.

I sat up straight,"Here she is. She's ready to go home now but as for the other two their going to need to stay for a while. The older one can have visitors right now but the younger on is still being worked on. You got him here just in time."

I took Brittany into my hands and gently hugged her then placed her next to her sisters and Simon and Theodore, who all hugged her. I looked back to the doctor, "Give it to me straight doctor how bad is he?"

She took in a deep breath, never a good sign. "Well to be honest the fact that he's alive at all is a miracle. Almost every bone in his little body is broken. Many of his internal organs are bruised and he has quite a lot of internal bleeding. We think we can save him but there's just no way to be sure."

My heart sunk. Alvin had better make it out alright.

"He's going to be alright, right Dave?", Theodore looked up at me with teary eyes but he wasn't the only one with tears in his eyes, All of them had sadness written on their faces, save for Simon who was holding any emotion he was feeling on the inside. I nodded to them. "Of course he is this is Alvin we're talking about." They didn't seem to be sure but then again neither was I.

The door to the veterinary clinic opened and Chelsea and Ricko hopped in. She looked over at us and smiled, "Don't worry, we got him." It made me happy to know that Ian wasn't on the run anymore.

The doctor took one look at Chelsea and her jaw nearly dropped, "You're hurt!" Chelsea shrugged with her good shoulder, "A little."

"Come with me right now, we need to get that shoulder back into place and get your cuts treated", the doctor waved for Chelsea to follow her. "If you say so", Chelsea hopped along behind the doctor and disappeared into the back of the clinic.

Ricko chuckled at his sisters display and hopped over to us, "So how's everyone doing?"

I told him how the Alvins were doing and he frowned at the news of Alvin's condition, "Is he going to make it?"

My frown deepened, "We don't know yet, we're just going to have to wait and see."


	26. Chapter 26

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV) **

Darwin was a wonderful city. Trees all over the place a beautiful beach just minutes away from anywhere in the city. There was just one problem. I had been confined to this darn veterinary clinic for the past month thanks to Ian.

I guess I should be thankful that I was practically comatose for the first two weeks so I didn't have to be bored through them. You know what the most annoying part is? The itching! Underneath all of my casts, and I had a lot of them, was an itch that I could do nothing about! It was enough to drive a chipmunk mad.

Well I finally had most of my casts off. My right leg and left arm still needed time to heal and I'm still not able to quite eat normal food yet, something to do with my stomach being damaged from what Ian did to me, though in a week or two I should be all better.

Brittany had stayed by my side almost the entire time. She only left to go to the bathroom and when her sisters and her had had a long talk about everything that happened. Turns out that they weren't that mad. Not at me or her, I think the whole me being in a body cast and protecting Brittany thing helped my case.

I was very bored and even though I could get up and move now I wasn't aloud to move that much. When I asked the doctors why they said that my internal injuries had not healed all the way yet and I could, "Hemorrhage", and, "Die", I think they were just playing it up for dramatic effect. But Brittany kept me in line while they weren't watching.

Over the past month my dad had gotten to know Dave, Theodore and Simon and they had all gotten along rather well. I was worried when I first woke up and found my dad standing on Dave's shoulder, I had guessed that they would fight when they first met but I guess they had something in common, worrying about me.

I hadn't seen much of Simon or Theodore since I woke up but Brittany told me that they had been checking up on me every hour before that. I wondered if they were mad at me still.

Brittany laid next to me in the small cage I had called home for the past month, luckily they were nice enough to take to the door off of it since I wasn't your normal animal and would be getting visitors.

I felt kinda bad for Eleanor and Jeanette since Brittany chose to spend most of her time with me they didn't get to see much of her. But that didn't mean they were alone. Not only were they dating Theodore and Simon now, but they had hit it off with Chelsea and the three of them spent a lot of time together.

Brittany held my good paw while we laid in silence, it was what we did most of the time. When I looked at her it made me happy because she had fully healed even before I had woken up. In fact everyone did and the only reason we were still in Darwin was because I couldn't be transported yet. But I was well enough for that now and we would be flying back down to Wonthaggi tomorrow, where I would spend the rest of my recovery time in the local vet clinic.

I've got to admit it made me feel important that everyone was waiting for me to get better. Even the Fetchers had stayed.

The door to the small room I was kept in opened and Dave walked in with Simon and Theodore following closely. Seeing them again made me tense up and Brittany squeezed my paw to comfort me.

They reached my cage and Simon and Theodore climbed up so they were standing in the cage with Brittany and I.

"Brittany, would you mind stepping out for a little while? The boys and I need to have talk", Dave spoke in a very kind tone.

Brittany squeezed my paw again and nodded. She hopped down from the cage and stopped at the door to give me one last look of support. The door slowly closed behind her and once it closed I felt a pit form in my stomach. This was the moment I had not been looking forward to.

Simon and Theodore didn't look mad which made me feel a little better.

We sat silence until Dave spoke up, "Boys, you three need to talk."

I took a deep breath, well as deep as I could, my ribs were mostly healed but not quite yet, "Guys, I'm sorry that I lied to you for all these years. I just didn't know how to tell you guys", I decided to just jump right in.

Simon opened his mouth and I braced myself, "Alvin, you should have told us earlier." Theodore nodded in agreement with him.

Simon didn't yell at me? "How would I have brought it up? Oh guys by the way, I'm not your blood brother like you think?"

Simon shrugged, "I don't know, but we could have talked it out like the family we are." The family we are? What does that mean?

"I'm just glad you're alright, Alvin", Theodore looked at me with his big green eyes that looked to be full of relief.

"Theodore, Simon, I'm sorry for lying to you both all this time and I want you both to know that I love you like my brothers no matter what", I watched their eyes for a reaction and they both gave me a smile.

Simon chuckled, "Well I guess we do kinda owe you because if you hadn't of lied we wouldn't have wound up getting to spend a month in Australia and we wouldn't be together with Jeanette and Eleanor right now."

"They have some awesome food here!", Theodore giggled.

I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders, "So we're cool?"

The both nodded and Simon opened his mouth, "There's just one thing Alvin. We want to know the whole story about how you came to join us."

I frowned, "Well as soon as I know I'll tell you guys."

They walked over to me and gave me a hug, which hurt but was still one of the greatest feelings I've had all month.

"I missed having my brothers around", I said while they hugged me.

"Well we should let you rest up for the flight tomorrow. Come on guys", Dave motioned for Simon and Theodore to follow him.

They released the hug and hopped down to the floor. The three of them walked over to the door and Dave opened it. Brittany fell into the room and it was obvious she had been listening in on our conversation.

She looked up and chuckled softly, "Sorry..."

We all shared a laugh and Dave,Simon and Theodore all left the room and the door slowly swung closed on its own.

Brittany made her way across the room and jumped back into the cage with me. I could tell she had been crying. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head, "Nothing that was just wonderful. I'm just happy that our family is finally back together."

I nodded to her, "Me too."

She hugged me, "We get to go home soon. I can't wait to get back."

I wrapped my good arm around her, "I know. Now I need to get some sleep so I can be ready for the flight tomorrow."

She nodded and pulled away from our hug and laid down next to me.

I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.


	27. Chapter 27

**(Alvin Sr.'s POV)**

Today was a good day because it was the day before AJ would be released from the vet. After a month in Darwin and two weeks here in Wonthaggi he was getting very tired of being confined. He had gotten to get the last of his casts off yesterday and was finally back on a solid food diet.

Before he got out though Dave, who I had come to respect greatly over the past month and a half, and I decided it was time to have a talk about who Alvin was going to stay with.

We sat, just the two of us in the Fetchers' living room. Brittany was at the clinic with AJ keeping him company. Her sisters were out with Chelsea as they had been every other day. Theodore is in the kitchen with Alyson, she is teaching him some recipes he can take home with him. Simon and Leonard were currently locked in a very fierce game of chess.

Dave sat in the recliner while I stood on the table just in front of him. He started the conversation, "Alvin will be out tomorrow so we need to decided what were going to do."

I wasn't quiet sure what to say. I wanted Alvin to be with me but I need to make sure I only do what is in his best interest. "What do you think we should do, Dave?"

He leaned back and rubbed his chin, "Well, my gut tells me to take him home with me because its were most of his family is." He had a point. They had been taking care of him for longer then I had him when he was a baby. But I can't just let him walk out of my life again.

"I don't know if I'm ready to let him go yet though...", its true, the time we spent together was some of the best of my life and getting to know him was wonderful.

Dave got a smile as if an Idea hit him, "Well who says we can't have our cake and eat it too?" What was he getting at?

"What do you mean?", I waited for him to respond while it looked like he was still working out the details in his own head.

"Well look at it this way, I think Alvin needs to be around his family of which you are a part of. But I don't think staying here is whats the best for him, so why don't you come back with us and live with us? It could work out very well. See, I've been The Chipmunks and The Chipettes manager and song writer and its been quite a lot of work. So why don't you take on the roll as manager that way you can be close to him and we can too, everyone wins!"

I couldn't help but smile, this idea was brilliant. My smile faded as I thought about the one down side. I would have to leave the Fetchers and Chelsea behind. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be able to talk to them and visit them from time to time.

The thought of being around AJ and Brittany, who I had come to see as my own daughter practically, and the others as well plus a career was great and it was just too good to pass up.

"Well Dave, I think we've found the only course that makes sense", Dave and I shared a smile. So after all these years I will be returning to America? It's going to take some getting used to.

"When should we tell them?", Dave asked from one father to another. I thought about it for a few seconds before answering him, "I think we should wait until a few days after he gets out, we don't want to over excite him."

Dave nodded in agreement.

(**Alvin Jr's POV)**

Today was the day! I was finally going to get to be outside again. It was great, everyone had come to see me on the day I was going to be released and now they were all waiting for me in the lobby.

The nurse came to get me and insisted on carrying me to my family. I tried to argue but she made it clear that she would be carrying me, and it was my choice whether I would be under the effects of a sedative or not. I reluctantly stepped onto her hands.

As she slowly and carefully made her way out to the lobby I looked over myself and for the first time in a month and a half I looked like me again. Dave had made me a red T-shirt from one of his spare shirts and it fit rather well. My fur was groomed and had a nice sheen to it once again. Yep Alvin Sevi... Goldste... what was I going to call myself? Was I a Seville, or a Goldstein? Whatever it doesn't matter, all that matters is that Alvin is back baby!

I ran my paw trough the fur on my head but paused when my paw reached my left ear. I felt the scar, in the form of a slice cut out of it, on my ear and remembered that I still had to find a way to remember what happened after I fell from the cliff.

I brought my paws back down and straightened my shirt as we reached the door to the lobby. I was greeted by the sounds of everyone clapping and cheering.

The nurse handed me to Dave, who thanked her.

I smiled at everyone and turned to look up at Dave, "Dave, can I walk out to the car on my own please? I haven't been aloud to walk for so long", I gave him the best pair of puppy dog eyes I had ever given anyone.

He let out a sigh, "I don't know..."

Brittany piped up, "I'll stay close to him, Dave", I mouthed a thank you to her and she blew me a kiss.

"Alright, but you don't leave her side until we get to the car alright?", I nodded and he set me down.

Before I could even take a step I was swarmed by my dad, Simon, Theodore, Jeanette and Eleanor all hugging me. "And I thought fans were bad", I teased.

After they released me Brittany took her spot next to me and we walked out to the car. I made it without much of a problem, I only tripped twice and Brittany caught me both times. My legs were still a bit weak, but nothing some running from Dave when I do something bad wont fix.

Back at the Fetcher house I sat on the couch with Brittany next to me while we watched some T.V.

Its funny, just knowing that I was aloud to get up and move was enough to make me happy.

Chelsea hopped into the room, "So, how are you feeling?" She had a kind smile on her face when she asked.

"Well, I'm still a little sore but its not that bad. I'm just glad to be no longer confined to a cage", that reminded me I still needed to tell Brittany how much I appreciated her staying with me.

"I can imagine, I hated my arm being in a sling, even though it was just for a few days", Chelsea adjusted her shoulder as if just to remind herself that she could.

"Do you guys mind if I sit with you? I've missed you", she asked with a soft tone.

"Of course, Chelsea", while I could never get enough alone time with Brittany, I didn't mind having Chelsea around and I would miss her when we had to go back to America.

She smiled and plopped down on the floor and stretched her legs out in front of her.

We watched T.V for a while but I still couldn't stop trying to think of a way to remember what happened after the cliff.

I let out a groan and Brittany and Chelsea looked at me and asked in unison, "Whats wrong?"

"I can't remember what happened after I fell and Simon and Theodore want me to tell them", why couldn't I just snap my fingers and make it happen?

"You shouldn't try to force it. You'll remember when its time, Alvin", Brittany took hold of my paw while she spoke and gave me a warm smile.

I had no idea how to find out. I wish we could ask Simon and Theodore's parents but we have no idea where they went, all we know is they're with some hippie commune somewhere in America.

The memories are in my mind I just can't get to them myself. My mind drifted back to hypnotism but would that even work?

"I keep coming back to the getting myself hypnotized idea but I don't even know where to start looking for one...", I let out a sigh.

"Well then you're in luck", Chelsea said with a smile.

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Why's that?"

"Well Ricko learned how to hypnotize people on one of his trips and he taught me how. So you don't need to look any farther then me", this was perfect. I trusted Chelsea to not scramble my brain while she was in there and now I would be able to give everyone, including me, the answers they wanted.

"When can we do it?", I looked at her with an expectant look.

"Well we can do it right now, but we should wait until you recover a little more."

I shook my head, "No I've waited long enough. Brittany will you gather everyone?"

She nodded, "If you're sure you want to do this right away then yes."

I stood up, "I am. Plus if we wait I might chicken out", I chuckled softly.


	28. Chapter 28

**Timothy.C.:We have a special treat for you today. This chapter was done by none other then Hillsy21! Its one of my favourites in the whole story, so read and enjoy! **

**Hypnotism of All Things **

The tension in the air was positively nerve-wracking. It was so silent; you could hear a pin dropping from at least a mile away...and that's just an understatement. Nobody seemed to want to talk; all eyes were too busy watching me. Everybody was just staring. It was as if I was an alien from Venus or something. I was feeling so self-conscious...I really should've not been feeling a thing at all. I was supposed to let go of all emotions...just let myself float away on the clouds of nothingness...But that was hard when everybody around me refused to blink. Why, oh, why didn't they leave me alone for at least five minutes?

"Just relax," soothed Chelsea in a dreamy voice. She had me lying back on a couch while a pocket watch swung back and forth in a slow rhythm in her hand. I watched it intently. It was going back and forth...and back and forth. I couldn't take my eyes off it, but that didn't stop my mind from putting up a fight. It was failing horribly. "Just relax...let the watch take you away from this time...let it take you away from your body...let it take you away...let it take you away..." Chelsea repeated, her dreamy voice refusing to quit.

I found myself beginning to drift off. All the pain in my mind and body was floating away, making me light headed. But not nauseous light headed...just peaceful light headed. I just felt so at peace with the world somehow. Like no harm would come to me and in turn, I wouldn't harm it. I couldn't bring myself to move an inch of my body; it just laid there with no need to move. The people around the couch observing the scene were disappearing into darkness...just fading away.

"You're getting tired...very tired," Chelsea continued, "All you want to do is close your eyes and dream the rest of your life away...you want to sleep...you want to sleep." I closed my eyes and let my head roll to the side. The soft material making me even more relaxed as it brushed against my cheek gently. I gave a small smile as I thought about who it reminded me of... "What do you want to do Alvin? More than anything in the world...what do you want to do?"

"I want to sleep...I want to sleep more than anything in the world." I answered involuntarily. My sub-conscious was now in complete control, but I had no desire to fight it. Life had never felt so calm as it did at that moment. I took a deep breath.

"Very good Alvin, that's exactly what you want to do. Now go to sleep, just fall away. There's nothing more to worry about...nothing at all to worry about." So I did. I fell asleep feeling so comfortable and relaxed, excited about where my dreams wanted to take me...perhaps back to the hot water springs in the Northern Territory...Anyone want to come with me? But hold on...I wasn't going to dreamland at all...It was just pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. Where did everything go? Suddenly, Chelsea's voice called out to me. It sounded very clear, but distant...

"_Now Alvin, listen. You are under my control...You are under my spell...Now, what I want you to do is tell the truth with every question I ask of you...You will remember everything that happened after you fell off the ridge...Do you understand?"_

"Yes...Yes, I understand."

"_Very good...Now, when I count to three, I want you to wake up... But you will wake up six years ago when you regained consciousness after your fall...You will tell me everything that happened...Okay...three...two...one."_

_**My eyes opened immediately, but I was no longer in the living room. I was no longer with my family, feeling at peace with the world...No...I was feeling sad, cold and in pure agony. There was nothing but thick forest to stare at in the darkness. The night sky was peeking through the treetops above dauntingly ...Half of my body was broken and I wanted nothing else but to be in my dad's arms again. I was scared and crying. I just wanted to go home...**_

"_Alvin! Can you hear me?"_

"Yes, I can hear you..."

"_Where are you right now?"_

"I'm in the forest at the bottom of the ridge."

"_Are you okay?"_

"No...my head hurts...my whole body hurts...Where's Daddy? I'm scared...I don't like being alone...I-I don't like it here...Where is he? Its cold...It's dark...I wanna go home...I want Daddy to take me home...He can make me feel better...Where's Daddy? I wanna cry... I know that crying is making my head hurt even more, but still I'm crying anyway...Daddy...Death...Anybody...just come take me away..."

"_Is anybody coming for you? Will anybody come for you?"_

"Yes, two people have found me...two chipmunks have seen me lying here...They heard me crying for Daddy..."

"_Really? Who are they? What do they look like?"_

"It's too dark to see them properly...But one has glasses...He is the taller chipmunk...The other is a Chipette...She is shorter and a bit rounder than the male...The male has just picked me up... My head is pounding hard...They...They both tell me that I'm gonna be okay now...They are telling me to calm down because I'm safe now...They're gonna take care of me...They tell me that they will try to find Daddy as soon as I heal...But now I have to go with them...I'm trying to put up a fight, but my body hurts too much...I feel..."

"_What do you feel?"_

"I feel myself falling asleep...I can't stay awake anymore...It just hurts too much...I'm passing out..." _**The scene in front of me fades away into nothingness entirely...I wake up the next morning in a tree house quite different from my own...The sun is shining brightly in my eyes and I can no longer keep them closed..The pain isn't as bad as it was, but it still bothers me...**_

"_What happened the next morning, Alvin?"_

"The pain hasn't gone away...But, it's just throbbing dully now...I can't move a muscle. I'm just so tired...I'm still scared...The Chipette has seen me awake and has come over to me...She is holding one of her sons...He has blue eyes just like she does...She tells me to rest and reminds me that I'm safe now...She calls the big chipmunk who was feeding the other son...he looks just like her, but with his dads green eyes...He gives me some medicine and some breakfast before I fall asleep again..."

"_Those two sons of the couple who took you in...Who are they exactly?"_

"I'm not sure...They haven't told me yet...But they are scared of me, just don't want to come near because I'm a stranger...The smaller one keeps trying to talk to me, but the taller one pulls him away...He doesn't like me...He keeps telling the small one to just ignore me...That I'm bad news...I want to tell them that I'm nice, but every time I try to say something...The mother will hush me and give me more medicine and before I know it, I've slept right into the next day..."

"_So, when do you finally learn their names?"_

"When I have the strength to sit up at least, is when they finally talk to me...It makes me nervous when the taller chipmunk comes over to me...I can tell that he is nervous too, as he asks me what my name is...I tell them that it is Alvin...He introduces himself as Simon and his little brother as Theodore...He makes it quite clear that I'm not welcome and that as soon as I can walk, I'm out of the door."

"_What does Theodore say to you?"_

"He doesn't say much, but he is being nicer to me than Simon...He asks me if I'm hungry and brings me extra things to eat...I've got a soft spot for him already even though I haven't known him for long...He's looking at me right now...He's making me smile because he has berry juice all over his face...Ha ha! It's everywhere! He's noticed it too and is laughing with Simon...The father as smiling because we aren't fighting... Theodore is always experimenting with different types of food and how he can make tasty recipes...He lets me try them sometimes."

"_What are the parents like?"_

"They're both friendly and really smart...The father likes to ask me about life at the top of the ridge...I tell him everything...In return, he tells me about how he has been trying to find my dad...but no luck. The mother likes to talk to me whenever she comes home from foraging...She teaches me about all kinds of medicines she has discovered...Like the one she is giving me. Simon likes to listen in to our conversations. He doesn't say much to me, but I can tell that he is very intelligent for his age...Whenever the parents are outside, I ask him all sorts of questions about stuff."

"_What kind of stuff?"_

"Just random questions about the forest; if he was interested about adventuring out of it...He tells the stories that his dad told him about life outside the forest...He says that it's not safe to go near the humans...It's best to stay where we are all safe...He is also interested in science. He is nearly always trying something new...I tell him that I like music and like to listen to my dad sing all sorts of folk songs...He tells me that he prefers science and that music is a stupid waste of time..."

"_So, how did you convince them to start singing? Is that how you all ended up bonding?"_

"It was after their parents ran off. Before they left, they told me that my dad had died from the eagle attack-"

"_You must've been devastated!"_

"I was...very much. I couldn't believe that Dad was dead. He had always seemed so strong, way too tough to just die...I was so shocked and all I wanted to do was hug him at least one more time. I cried for days on end...I couldn't sleep or eat for a long time. And even though I was able to walk around again, I refused to move from the corner. _**As I talked, all the sadness and grief I had felt during that time came flooding back in a tidal wave of sorrow...I felt myself begin to cry as I talked on. A hand had clutched on to mine. I didn't find out until later that it was Brittany's. I guess I was far too deep in my subconscious to know any better.**_

"That's when I really started to bond with the boys. With their parents now gone, they were both nice and kind enough to comfort me. They seemed to know exactly how I felt and were careful about what they said around me. It was as if I was injured again. Theodore would make sure that I kept eating, even when I didn't have an appetite for it. Simon would keep me talking about all sorts of things until I didn't even know what I was crying about in the first place...It would start all over again the next morning, but they kept going for a whole month...I guess that when I felt alright again, I felt that I owed them for everything they had done and not rejecting me..."

"_And that's when you started pretending to be their brother?"_

"Well...I wouldn't call it _pretending_...It was more like _helping _them by becoming their big brother. Theodore and Simon were both very capable on their own, but they had their faults... Like Simon with his eyesight. A few times, I had to stop him from falling off the tree or into the river nearby. He was smart alright, but a bit of a klutz at the best of times. Theodore could've very easily have coped on his little lonesome if it weren't for his lack of self-confidence and__bravery...That's what led to us singing together."

"_Well, what happened to get you three started?"_

"Oh, well one night there was a huge thunder storm going on outside the tree-house. The thunder was so loud-I'm not exaggerating, I swear on my life-The thunder was so loud that one of the thickest and oldest oak trees cracked in half after the thunder rumbled...It shook the ground madly and our tree felt as if it was going to topple over...It was so terrifying...The hail was shooting at the ground like bullets along with the rain...The wind was very forceful and the lightning constantly filled the sky was a deafening crack! It was truly a sight to behold..." **I could hear the storm raging in my ears and a cold chill iced every vertebrae of my spine...**

"Simon, Theodore and I were huddled together in the corner, just trying to keep each other both calm and warm...With each lightning crack came a yelp or whimper from Theo and Simon was shaking nearly harder than the thunder. I wasn't any better, shivering and nearly on the verge of tears. I wanted my dad to jump out from nowhere and protect me. He always seemed to know how to make me feel better in any situation...His words came back to me over and over..._If you're scared or feeling blue; raise your voice and sing, that's all you do! You'll be back on your feet and feeling better; ready to rise, in the face of-whatever!"_

"_That's a very wise philosophy your dad lived by wasn't it?"_

"Yes, it was. It certainly worked for us that night. I came up with a good song to sing. They were a little bit confused at first, but soon they got the gesture and joined in-"

"_And how did that song go?"_

"**There's a dark and a troubled side of life,****  
****There's a bright and a sunny side too.****  
****Though we meet with the darkness' of strife,****  
****The sunny side we also may view.******

**Keep on the sunny side,****  
****Always on the sunny side.****  
****Keep on the sunny side of life.****  
****It will help us every day.****  
****It will brighten up our way.****  
****If we keep on the sunny side of life.******

**Though the storm and it's fury breaks today,****  
****Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear.****  
****The clouds and storm will in time pass away,****  
****And the sun again will shine bright and clear.******

**(break)******

**Let us treat with a song of hope each day,****  
****Though the moment be cloudy or clear.****  
****Let us trust in our Savior old ways,****  
****He will keep everyone in His care.******

**Keep on the sunny side;****  
****Always on the sunny side.****  
****Keep on the sunny side of life.****  
****It will help us every day,****  
****It will brighten up our way.****  
****If we keep on the sunny side of life."**

"_Ooh, that's a good little song! So, did it cheer you up?"_

"Oh, yes! The thunderstorm kept starting and stopping all night, but that song let us be strong. We even managed to get a bit of sleep as well before it stopped for good. We had been friends when it started, but by the time it ended, we were real brothers. I felt so much more comfortable around them and vice-versa. I was quite amazed about just how good we sounded together as a trio and wanted to teach them everything that Dad taught me about music."

"_I bet Simon didn't think it was such a waste of time after that!"_

"Nope, he admitted that it was actually quite fun after all. Theodore had thoroughly enjoyed the experience and wanted to learn one song a day. So, we did and we've been singing ever since. I can't imagine my life turning out anyway else..."

"_So what was it like to tell the truth to the boys you had called your brothers?"_

_**Immediately, the emotions that I felt nearly two months ago came flooding back. Again, I started to choke up as I spoke: **_"Terrible beyond imagination. After all this time, after all that bonding...after all we had been through together...To tell them that they had been living a lie the whole time was devastating beyond belief...Just the shock on their faces left me for dead...It became even worse when Simon started his rage-filled interrogating on me...I just wanted to die when I saw my happy family fall apart in front of my eyes...And I felt disgusted with myself for what I had done to Theodore as well...and Dave...and the Chipettes...

"Out of all the Chipettes, I felt so guilty for lying to Brittany. She's so amazing and oh-so beautiful...It just broke my heart. You have no idea how lucky I felt when she turned out to be actually supporting me...and to learn at the springs that she loved me back was so brilliant and special...I love her so much...and I love my brothers related or not-"

"_Alvin, listen to me. Fall asleep and listen...I'm going to bring you back to reality now...When I count to three and snap my fingers, you'll wake up...One...Two...Three...__**Snap!**_

My eyes shot open and I sat upright, breathing heavily. My mind was racing and I no longer felt relaxed. A mixture of many emotions flowed through me. I felt unnaturally hot and sick to the stomach and my heart rate had risen dangerously high. I felt as though I could throw up at any moment, it was so bad. Everything around me eventually came back into focus. Everybody was still watching me, but now they looked deeply concerned and worried. As if I might go into a rage at them.

I stared around at everyone in turn. Chelsea had taken away the pocket watch and was watching me in a guilty manner. Brittany was clutching my hand tightly and the fur around her blue eyes was tearing stained. Jeanette and Ellie were not much different and Dave looked quite intense. Dad, Simon and Theodore were all looking at me with both guilt and understanding about the situation.

All I could manage was, "I'm so sorry-I love you guys!"- Before bursting into tears out of both depression and exhaustion. Within milli-seconds, Dad, Si, Theo and Britt had all attacked me with a huge bear hug and held me tightly as I cried. All of them were encouraging me to settle down, but my tears didn't want to cease. All I could do is sit there and be consoled by the warmth and love that the four chipmunks were bringing me...

_**Dave's POV**_

Half an hour later, I was sitting in a room full of talking animals fully asleep. Everyone had decided to take a nap to catch up on lost slumber time over the past few weeks. Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor were all huddled together on the couch next to me, all three holding on to each other in a sister cuddle. Simon and Theodore had slid over on either side of the girls and held on to their girlfriend in their sleep. Chelsea was fast asleep at my feet, her long powerful legs curled over each other, while her tail stuck out.

Alvin was fully curled up in a ball and whimpering slightly, he looked absolutely drained. After the psychological strain of remembering something that happened when he was only a baby, he seemed a bit ill. When he had stopped crying, he looked so weak and shaken...I'm not surprised that he passed out after vomiting roughly.

Both Alvin's were on my lap; both the same looking, same size, same shape, both sounding the same when they snore, but one was going a bit grey. There was hardly any difference between them; they were more like twin brothers than father and son. Senior was sleeping slightly curled up against his sons back, as if ready to pounce on anyone who tries to hurt him. I guess he just didn't want to lose him again.

It was going to be interesting, having two male role models for Alvin to look up to for advice. I could tell that he had become quite close to his real dad in such a short time, but I hoped that he wouldn't forget that I too have great advice about growing up and being a man. Si and Theo would definitely accept him into the family. With him being so much like their 'brother', why wouldn't they? Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. But...I can't help to feel paranoid about living with two chipmunks that together, could very easily start the apocalypse!


	29. Chapter 29

**(Alvin Sr.'s POV)**

There was a pit in my stomach while I sat and looked at my luggage. This was really happening... in just a few minutes I would be leaving Wonthaggi for the last time and be on my way to my homeland with my new family.

I had already said my goodbyes to the Fetchers, I thanked them for taking me in and watching over me. They were sad to see me go but they understood why I had to do it.

Chelsea was very sad when I told her I was leaving. She made me promise to come back and see her as often as I could.

I took a deep breath and went to the living room where everyone had gathered to say their goodbyes.

The air was a sad one as everyone said goodbye.

The Chipettes were all hugging Chelsea, and the four of them were crying. Though I couldn't help but smile seeing that Chelsea and Ricko were each wearing a blue button down shirt. See, after their amazing capture of Ian they had earned quite a reputation and were even given a place on the police force, specializing in foot chases through the wilderness.

AJ, Simon and Theodore were all standing in Ricko's open paws and talking to him about his new job.

Dave was thanking the Fetchers for their hospitality over the past few weeks.

Chelsea saw me and waved me over to her with her free paw and I ran over to her. She lifted me up and held me close with The Chipettes. "I'm going to miss you, Alvin", she looked down at me as tears fell from her eyes.

I fought back tears, "I'm going to miss you too, Chelsea", I hugged her along side The Chipettes.

"You better take care of yourself", she held me tight against her chest and I almost couldn't breath.

Dave looked at his watch and frowned, "It's time guys, we need to go if we're going to catch our plane..."

Chelsea and The Chipettes' sobs increased and even I began to cry a little. I was going to miss them all, but it was time for me to move on with my son and my new family.

Chelsea put us down and we all gathered our luggage while the boys did the same.

We all made our way out to the rental car Dave had picked up and I paused and looked back over my family. Chelsea was still crying and Ricko was smiling. Alyson was sad but smiled and waved. Leonard gave me a wink and waved to me.

Dave put all of our luggage in the trunk and got in the driver's seat.

"I'm going to miss you all so much!", I called to them as the other six chipmunks all took their seats in the back seat of the car.

I hopped up into the front passenger's seat through the open window and gave on last wave before Dave buckled me in and pulled out of the driveway. I watched the mirror as we drove away and my old home began to shrink from sight.

**Two weeks later**

It's been two weeks since we got back to L.A and I was just starting to get the hang of this manager thing. I was nearly overwhelmed at the start by just how popular The Chipmunks and Chipettes were. Dave helped me for the first week and showed me the ropes of dealing with people in the recording business

Once the news that after a long and heroic journey through Australia Alvin had found his long lost father and that the Chipmunks and Chipettes were now dating hit the internet, we're betting Alvin leaked the story himself but we have no proof yet, there was a huge uproar for a concert to celebrate, and the fans wanted me to preform along side the other two groups.

Dave's place was a mess due to the new sleeping arrangements. Since the boys and girls were no longer aloud to sleep in the same room the boys were sleeping in the living room with me. Dave was frantically searching for a bigger place but he was having trouble finding one that was close to the L.A area.

We had all shared a good laugh when we got the news that Ian was transported to an American prison and would not be getting out for a long time. Serves him right I think.

I had spent most of the day on the phone getting this concert set up as soon as possible. I had the date and the venue set up. Now all that was left was getting all of the publicity worked out.

I took a small brake to just have a moment to breath. I enjoyed the relative silence, the only sound that was in the house was Dave quietly strumming on a guitar and whispering lyrics to himself for a new song that we would all be singing together at the show. The reason the house was so quiet was because the kids were spending the day at the park.

My moment of silence was broken by the sound of the phone ringing. It was our publicity guy. I answered it and after a short conversation we got the last details worked out and everything was set in stone. I hung up the phone and let out a sigh of relief.

Needing to relax after all the stress of setting up my first show, I ran over to the couch I called my bed and laid down to take a short nap.

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV) **

Being back home was great and having my dad come back with us was even better. The six of us were running around the park and playing tag. We had all agreed to give Dave and Dad some time to get the up coming concert set up.

I was excited to get up on stage again. The thought of the seven of us preforming together had me practically counting the minuets until the show.

As I chased Brittany and Theodore around the park I couldn't help but think of Chelsea and Ricko and how much fun it would be if they were here, playing with us.

I manged to catch up to Brittany and tag her. She stopped in reaction, which caused us both to trip and fall to the ground. I landed on top of her, "Are you alright?", I asked as she looked up at me.

She nodded and smiled, "Ya but I don't think I want to play tag anymore", she giggled. I loved it when she laughed.

"I can think of something else for us to do", I gave her one of my famous smiles.

I leaned my head down and kissed her. After a few seconds we heard Theodore call to us from the tree he had ran up and was clinging to, "Does that mean we're done with tag then?"

I pulled away from her and we both laughed. "Ya, lets play hide and seek!", I suggested.

Brittany and Theodore both agreed with me and even Simon, Jeanette and Eleanor, who had sat out the last game of tag, decided to join in.

"So who's going to be it?", Theodore asked as he reached the group and stood next to Eleanor.

"We decided the same way we always do... Rock, Paper, Scissors!", we all balled our paws up into a fist and got ready.

I began to count down, "Three... Two... One... Go!", our paws all took shape and as if the stars alined against me everyone else chose rock while was left the only one with scissors.

I covered my eyes, "That's cool, I like seeking anyway!"

I heard them all scamper off with a giggle as I began to count back from fifty. I smiled while I counted, it felt good to be home and have everything return to normal.


	30. Chapter 30

**(Dave's POV)**

The air was tense backstage. It was the night of the concert and we could hear the fans screaming at the top of their lungs waiting for the show to start.

I looked over the seven chipmunks in front of me. They were huddled together psyching themselves up.

They were all dressed in their concert wear. Alvin, Simon and Theodore were all wearing a black button shirt that was left unbuttoned with a tie matching their signature color.

The girls each wore a dress that sparkled in the light and was colored to match their favorite colors.

Then there was Alvin Sr., who was dressed similar to the boys, except his shirt was buttoned up and he wore a gray tie.

"Are you guys ready?", Alvin Jr. asked the other six. "Always!", Simon adjusted his glasses. Theodore simply giggled in response. "This is going to be so much fun!", Eleanor was practically bouncing with excitement. "We're going to bring the house down!", Jeanette threw her paws into the air. "We're going to give them the best show they ever had!", Brittany put her paw in the center of their small circle. "Lets do it!", Senior put his paw on her's and the rest of the group did the same.

"Chipmunks! Chipettes! Chipmunks! Chipettes!", the crowd began to chant and the seven pulled their paws back and I handed each of them a small head set with a mic on it.

"It's show time guys!", I gave the group a thumbs up for encouragement and they made their way to the stage.

Just when I thought it wasn't possible the crowd began to cheer even louder as the beat to the first song began. The set list was eight songs long .

I watched as the seven of them danced together and sung their hearts out. Senior fit in perfectly and never missed a move or a note. It was obvious where Alvin got his talent from.

The seventh song, "Living on a Prayer", wound down they all struck a pose and once the music stopped the lights faded out. Senior and The Chipettes ran off stage to wait for their cues.

The lights came up and Alvin, Simon and Theodore stood center stage.

"We have one last song for you all tonight. It's something special, so get ready!", Alvin easily whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

A techno beat began and Alvin, Simon and Theodore began to dance to it.

Alvin, Simon and Theodore began to sing in unison.

"Com'on, everybody from afar,Come and join the party in America. Just come in and join all the fun. Com'on, everybody from afar, Right here is where you become a star. We're gonna show you just how it's done."

Alvin ran to the edge of the stage and one of the stage hands tossed him a small electric guitar. The beat picked up and changed from techno to more something with more of a rock/ pop feel that sounded like it belonged in the 80s but it fit in just fine. Alvin jammed along with the tune.

All three of the boys sang out again, " Do-do-doo doo-do-doo, do-do-doo doo-do-doo, do-do-doo doo-do-doo! Sha-nana-na-nana-na-nana-na-na!"

Alvin let up on the guitar as the next verse began.

"Watch out, cause here we 's been a while, but we're back with style. So, get set, to have some fun. We'll bring you action, and satisfaction."

"We're the Chipmunks. C-H-I-P-M-U-N-K. We're the Chipmunks. Guaranteed to brighten your day!"

"When you, feel like a laugh. Give us a call; we'll all have a ball. And, if you feel like a song, Just sit right back and sing right along."

"We're the Chipmunks. Coming on stronger than ever before. We're the Chipmunks. Alvin-Simon-Theodore!"

The music changed speed and went back to the techno from the start of the song.

The Chipettes ran out onto stage and began to dance with their counterparts.

After dancing for a short while the six of them began to sing in unison.

"Let's all just break it down now. Let's show them, just how it's done. You gotta realise, we are the champions. You gotta realise, we are number one."

"Everybody, raise your hands in the air. In the water, everyone stomp your feet. At this party, you gotta dance to the rhythm. At this party, you gotta dance to the beat."

The beat picked back up to the 80s sounding beat and the guitar rang out again, but this time it wasn't Alvin Jr. playing.

Senior ran out onto the stage and did a power slide while hammering the notes out of his small, gray guitar.

The crowd's cheers almost overpowered the music once all seven chipmunks were on stage.

Alvin, Simon and Theodore began to sing, Do-do-doo doo-do-doo, Do-do-doo doo-do-doo, Do-do-doo doo-do-doo. Sha-nana-na-nana-na-nana-na-na!"

Senior stopped the guitar and he joined in for the next verse and The Chipettes took back up.

"We're the Chipmunks_**. **__**(This whole thing is goin' down!) **_What do you think that brothers are for? We're the Chipmunks._** (Let's turn this back around!) **_We'll stick together forever more!"

"We're the Chipmunks._** (Everybody, scream out, 'Wow!") **_Coming' on stronger than ever before. We're the Chipmunks._** (It is time to end this now!) **_Alvin-Simon-Theodore!"

All seven sung together.

"Do-do-doo doo-do-doo, Do-do-doo doo-do-doo, Do-do-doo doo-do-doo. Sha-nana-na-nana-na-nana-na-na!"

The Alvins both began to jam on their guitars as the music began to fade out.

The music stopped and Alvin Jr. spoke out to the crowd, "You've all been wonderful, thank you and goodnight!"

The seven of them ran back-stage and gave each other high fives.

"That was awesome guys!", I told them while the Alvins took their guitars off and gave them to the stage hands.

"I could get used to this", Senior said with a giant smile plastered on his face.

We all made our way back to the dressing room so they could relax.

Once we were in the room I poured them each a small glass of water and they talked about the performance and how much fun it was.

I've been waiting for the right time to tell them that I have a surprise for them. I guess now would be good, "Guess what guys?"

All seven turned and gave me their full attention. "You know how things have been kinda cramped lately at the house?"

They all nodded, "Well that's not going to be a problem anymore. I found a big house on a ranch in Northern California. It's a little far from L.A, but I think you're going to love it!"

"Awesome, I can't wait till we get our own room again", Alvin spoke for them all.

"When are we going to move?", Brittany asked after taking a sip of her water.

"In a week", I had it already planed out so the move will be as easy as possible.

"This is going to be awesome!", Eleanor cheered.

**(Alvin Jr.'s POV)**

The move had gone off without a hitch and we were now in the process of unpacking. I looked over our room, it was larger then our last one and our beds were no longer bunks.

I decided to take a break and explore the house once again.

I walked out of our room and into the second floor hallway. The walls were white with a brown base board. I walked down the hallway until I reached the next door which belonged to The Chipettes.

I poked my head in the open door and found them all unpacking. They looked excited to have their own room. Brittany caught me peeking in and waved at me, I waved back and kept walking down the hallway.

Next was my dad's room. The door was open so I walked in and looked around the room. He wasn't in here right now. His room didn't have anything on the walls yet but I could tell he had plans.

I can't say I know what Dave's new room looks like, we're not aloud in there without his permission. Which normally would just mean that I would want to see it all the more but I decided to wait until we've been here a week before I start to break the rules.

I ran to the stairs and went down them and arrived at the first floor. This floor was mostly occupied by the living room and kitchen. There was also a small room that we would be using to practice.

I ran out the small flap that Dave had installed so we could go in and out freely. Once out on the small patio I jumped up on the railing and looked out over the land. It was beautiful here, trees and grass as far as I could see and a wonderful blue sky that had just enough clouds in it.

I heard the flap move and Brittany jumped up next to me, "It's wonderful here isn't it?"

I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her next to me, "It is."

I turned my head to face her and kissed her. I pulled away and smiled, " After everything that has happened over the past few months, I think everything turned out great."

She nodded and we heard the flap again this time it was my dad, closely followed by Simon, Theodore, Jeanette and Eleanor. They all hopped up next to us and took in the view.

My dad let out a sigh, "It's amazing. To think that my son found me after all those years and brought me home."

The door opened and Dave walked out, "What are you all looking at?"

"Nothing, just enjoying the view and each other's company", I answered him without taking my eyes off the landscape.

He walked over to us and put his hands on the railing on either side of us and joined us in gazing.

I smiled as I was surrounded by my family,"If there's anything I learned over the past few months its that there's nothing like family..."

**Corny I know, but I couldn't resist. **

**The song in this is a reprise of "We're the Chipmunks" that was done by Hillsy21. **

**Well that's the end folks I had a lot of fun doing this and I hope you all had fun reading it. **

**Catch you next time!**


End file.
